‘Un’ Masked
“In a world where every one wears a mask, it’s a privilege to see a soul”
This line set me thinking. A paradoxical situation indeed, this life we are living today, where ‘putting on a mask’ is no longer a figurative comment on someone trying to shield their feelings. Masking up has not only become important, but a life survival accessory! Unfortunately, faces that are always half covered also obstruct clarity of expressions and emotions. Body language, gestures, eye contact and impactful words spoken in the appropriate tones, therefore become essential alternative mediums of effective communication.
But how many of us actually prefer this ‘doubling up of masks’ in real life? Chances are, many of us do..
Often the fear of being perceived and judged as weak, vulnerable, too sensitive, immature, unsuccessful and so on, conditions people to suppress their emotions. They don’t want their raw state to be exposed and therefore always prefer to remain guarded. This applies to all types of emotions that fall under positive, negative and neutral categories.
By never acknowledging or addressing real feelings, the individual also deprives themselves any scope for self improvement. And when things go out of hand, it leads to a ‘blow up’ situation not just for the mind, but the body as well. And this in turn has it’s repercussions on those associated with them too.
Accepting or owning an emotion, pleasant or otherwise, in all honesty is the key. One need not express, respond or react instantly as that may not always be the most prudent thing to do. A little restraint, taking a calming breath or even stepping back for a bit and then coming back to address the moment is a great thing to do too. But being in complete denial of the same is akin to being dishonest with the self and others concerned and thereby impairing the path towards personal/personality growth, well being and peace of mind.
One can express emotions without crossing lines of personal/social space and mutual respect also.
While openly expressing what one feels in a given scenario may not come easily to everyone, small steps in that direction can go a long way. If not possible in public, identifying even one trustworthy, empathetic sounding board to ‘let out steam’ or ‘pop excited/happiness bubbles’ with, in private, is very essential to everyone’s psychosocial well being. Else seeking professional help could also be an option.
It’s okay to not be okay, but it’s certainly not okay to bottle it all up.
We already live in highly competitive and anxiety driven times that are constantly impacting our life, relationships, self esteem, physical and mental health. While it’s essential to mask up against infections or pollution, it will serve better to not ‘mask up’ against emotions.
“Behind every mask there is a face, and behind that a story.” – Marty Rubin.
And these stories need to be heard/shared/exchanged for healing and happiness.
#selfcare #Emotionalwell-being #unmaskyourself #healing #SelfLove matters #PersonalGrowth #Expressingemotions #sharingiscaring #Peaceofmind #Psychosocial health #emotionalintelligence #emotions #mentalhealthmatters #healing #emotionalhealing #anxiety #love #wellness #mindfulness #wellbeing #therapy #mentalwellness #physicalhealth #health #motivation #Musings
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sowmya Sriram Yadav
An Ex- Communication professional with several years of experience with PR firms, Exhibitions industry and NPO’s in Delhi and Mumbai. She is now a freelance writer, an avid blogger and a very proud mom. She also likes to stop by once a while to smell the roses, capture small joys from behind the camera lens, sip the ‘filter’ coffee, reflect on life as it rushes by and pen down her musings.
There is need that one takes efforts to overcome inhibitions to open about oneself and on other hand there is need to create spaces and mechanism which are accessible for one to share their emotional experiences with out being judged
Thank you ☺️🙏🏻
When l was young l used to read these comic books one of which was about a criminal on the run; he is so insecure that he decides to change his physical persona; he hires the services of a mask maker to make a mask over his face; when the mask is finally set he asks the mask maker about what he should do to remove it, to which the mask maker replies by saying it’s a permanent fixture; the criminal is horrified.
That about sums it up. In the hurry to “mask” ourselves we should not find our emotions suppresed to such an extent that it has a permanent effect on our persona.
“Mask” well, but leave a door open to your “unmasked” persona.
Very well penned Ms Sowmya !!!
Wow, that’s a lovely response aptly corroborating my thoughts. Thank you so much. ☺️🙏🏻
Very nice article. It is a real fact of everyone’s life. Superb!!
Thank you ☺️🙏🏻
Noone can pen it down better than you sowmya…
You rock it womaniya 🤗
Thank you Pooja🥰
Excellent article
Thank you🙂
The write up lucidly articulates the importance of venting or sharing the individual’s feelings in order to avoid aggravating the mental stress. Well written Sowmya ji.
Thank you so much🙏🏻
The need of the hour. Loved the start and the end and the message in the body. Beautiful write up with a very important message.
Thank you🥰
Very well written.
Thank you🙂
Great article
Thank you 🙂🙂
This is certainly a mature viewpoint. Most people specially male tend to bottle up their emotions as they do not find it easy to open up like women do among themselves. Whether man or woman, this kind of the
denial leads to to personality disorders or traits. This kind of masking up hides the real person, the genuine person and what we see is an altered version. Life will always throw up challenges and we have to learn to tackle them head on and not to run away by shielding ourselves behind something. There is another way that we learn to be very adept at masking or emotions and that is through emojis. Whatever mood we may be in, whatever be our state of life we have to just click that one maybe two maybe 3 emojis. It seems that as the world develops it is equipping us with more and more weapons to hide our real selves.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Very nice article, very well written by Sowmya
Thank you so much☺️
Wow , such a beautiful and honest insight into how things really are nowadays.. loved it 😍
Thank you☺️
Well written sowmya
Thank you🙏🏻🙂🙂