Why do we wear them and hide behind them? We use them to hide so much
pain. Have you worn one lately? Will yours come off today?

i am an open book, usually... though i dont like to bother anyone with
my troubles... i figure everyone has their own issues... they dont need
mine, too... that would be the only mask i hide behind... i like for
people to believe that i am forever happy... and never sad or angry...

Ive never worn a mask-have allways been myself.

I have one that I choose to wear at work. Guess I need that as a little
help to establish boundaries around those who think nothing about
plowing right over them.
Other than that, I find it a real hindrance and a dulling of the
experience of my life by playing fake or trying to be something else or
hide out.

no... what u c is what u get.

I am pretty open.

me 2

I don't think there's anything wrong with masks. We need them. I can't
be the real me at work, I'd probably get fired. I'm a smoker, but out of
respect for my mom (who disapproves and doesn't like the smoke anyway) I
don't do it around her. For the longest time, only my dad knew I smoked.
Not because I kept it from them, it just never came up since nobody ever
saw me. Hell, Dad told me he was disappointed and that he disapproved,
but that I was old enough to make my own decisions. And the rest of the
family thinks the same way.

At any rate, just because you act differently around those you care
about (or respect enough), doesn't necessarily mean you're being untrue
to yourself. But that's just how I see it.

Masks...interesting questions..

Why do we wear them and hide behind them?

Sometimes as protection..from disproval, from people who are harsh or
judgemental, but for whatever reason, we have to deal with them..

When one's world is out of step, but life demands we still move forward,
it is easier to mask and just struggle through..

People expect one to behave a certain way, so masking happens to conform
to those expected behaviours.

Have you worn one lately?

Yes I hid my profile pic behind a pic of my favourite piece of art, so I
wouldn't have to deal with attention from non posters on this site...I
felt out of step within myself, and so it was easier..

Will yours come off today?

Ironically it did, many hours ago..I changed my profile pic back to me,
as I felt more like me today.

I'm pretty much an open book, but only to those people I wish to reveal
the story. My private life/personal issues simply aren't "everyone's"
business.

I have different sides to my personality. Different people see different
sides but nobody gets to see them all. It works for me though...lol

I am an open book , what you see is what you get , i help my friend take
off her mask

I only wear a mask when Im sad, Im usuauly very upbeat, so when Im down
I dont want anyone to know

gave up mine awhile ago... got old, and was not me...

Sometimes we get brainwashed into smiling through all things...

Now, not to say I am thrilled when my rashes are full force, and I look
akin to a baboon's ass.

But, I still go out and face (hahahahahaha!) the world.

Masks ... interesting question

I like to think I am open book..but sometimes I need to pull in and
regroup. I have let a drawing behind a mask serve as my visual here
when I needed to do that.

Consciously we can choose to hide or not. But the topic of masks goes
much deeper than that.

If you are alive and you have a personality ... you do indeed have masks
conscious or not.

I think of our makeup like a peanut M&M.

There is an outer shell - the one that interracts with the world.

Then the chocolate ... all the belief systems, attitudes, thoughts -
conscious and more importantly unconscious that drive our behavior and
form our personality. Some belief systems are accurate, many are not
... all colour our perception of others and what we project to the
world.

The peanut in the center is you. Behind all of the other stuff that we
think makes us who we are.

If those aren't masks, then I don't know what is.

then I'm a nut!?

I understand...

There are days when I am in alot of pain, I cannot speak lest I become
the rabid animal...

so, a mask of sorts? yes. I don't like myself like that, and don't wish
it on anyone else...

At this point unless I consciously hide (and, I do...) I am raw, and
wide open.

People either can handle it, or not...

girlfriend we are ALL nuts LOL

shall we decide what kind of nut?

or, are we nut clusters?

What kind of nut? Oh dear, more labels!