October brings with it many sights, sounds, and activities; leaves changing colors and falling to the ground, cooler air, apple picking, pumpkin carving, and Halloween. We are in full fall mode, and if you have little ones in your life, it is also the time for candy buying and costume shopping. The fun of getting to dress up as your favorite superhero, TV or movie character, mystical creatures, or anything the creative mind can conjure up.
Wearing masks and costumes originates back to a Celtic festival where people used masks and costumes to protect themselves from ghosts. They did this on a night where it was believed that the dead could roam among the living, and so to outsmart the ghostly beings, people would put masks and costumes on to walk among the dead unnoticed and safe.
However, I don’t think it is just at Halloween where we still wear masks.
Masks can shield and protect us, but they can also hurt and hide us. Do we wear masks in our daily lives? Unfortunately, I think we do. We put on a mask, a false self; maybe one that we think will be more likable, fit in better, be more loved. But when we put a mask on, we are covering something up. What could we be trying to cover up?
Perhaps it is pain, loneliness, anxiety, fear, depression, abuse, unhappiness, our past?
But covering those things up also covers up our true self. Do we feel that if we were to take our mask off and show our true self, that it wouldn’t be accepted or appreciated? Being our authentic self is the idea that no matter the external surroundings or circumstances, we are consistently living out who we really are. The real me, the whole me, the true me; no matter where I am or who I am with.
Mary Pipher, in her book, “Reviving Ophelia” wrote:
“You are in a boat that is being tossed around by
Mary Pipher
the winds of the world. The voices of your parents,
your teachers, your friends and the media can blow
you east, then west, then back again. To stay on course
you must follow your own North Star, your sense of
who you truly are. Only by orienting north can you keep
from being blown all over the sea.”
Although her target audience in her book is adolescent girls, I think the metaphor rings true for all of us no matter our age. We do not need to pretend to be anything other than who we really are; with all our core beliefs, our values, our personality traits, our blemishes and all.
We are our North Star when we just be.
It is not about what we are doing, but rather who we are being. Who are you being? Your North Star? Or are you wearing a mask of some kind? Are you using that mask to hide your true self, or to protect yourself from being vulnerable, or for fear of being accepted, or even hurt by others?
I challenge you to take the risk of removing the mask and allowing yourself to be free to just be. Live following your true North Star! It is a journey where no mask is required.
