Many of us are not comfortable with ourselves, and they spend a lot of energy trying to keep other people from noticing. Countless people live most of their lives playing role, wearing masks … hoping it will cover up what they dislike about themselves. They cling to their beliefs that they will be liked for what they pretend to be rather than for whom they really are.
It is strange that the very thing we want most of all is acceptance from other people… for other people to like us. But uncertainty about ourselves makes it more difficult for us to open ourselves to others. Sometimes we feel we cannot make it on our own merit and so we resort to pretend to be somebody else. Our fear to be rejected, the fear that other people won’t like us if we open ourselves completely to them, makes it more complicated. Sometimes without even noticing, we are the architects of our own loneliness. Unconsciously, we judge ourselves worse than we think other will. We are afraid to be too close at the same time afraid to be too far for the fear that people around would notice what we want to hide about our true selves…making life more miserable. But for those who are not comfortable with their selves, it seems that it is the only way to survive. It is easier to believe that life is unfair than to accept that something is wrong with us and we have to do something about it. If we will examine ourselves carefully, we will realize that it only makes us miserable. It is a painful and empty place indeed that we chose to protect ourselves from being hurt in life.
