What is your mask?

We all have masks right? Or at least I would like to think I am not the only one. I was always eluded to the fact that during my sessions with my therapist when I was telling her of my tales of horror and pain that I was sitting there with a smile on my face. This always puzzled the hell out of her..it always puzzled the hell out of everyone that knew me. Half the time I never even realized I was doing it..it was my mask..my way of defending of the world around me..my way of trying to fake everyone out..by letting them see my smile they thought..everything must be okay..although inside I was screaming..and for a very long time this worked perfectly..another mask I always had was that people saw me as being quite the little sweet and innocent child..and I played it well..when in fact I was really quite wreckless and wild..My point is..all of us have masks..or again..I would like to believe I am not the only one..and I am curious as to what some of yours might have or might still be..if you wouldn't mind sharing with us..I don't believe masks are a bad thing..I think they simply protect a part of us that we are just too vulnerable to open up to the rest of the world.

Mine is the competent, happy "I can do it all" guy mask...nothing's wrong, and if it is, it isn't your fault, it's mine...I think it is making me sicker over time...there is such a dichotomy between that image and the reality of my life, it is really starting to hurt...physically and emotionally.

While I agree that a "mask" worn for day-to-day use in public is OK (I'm mean, how many people REALLY wan't to know how I'm REALLY feeling?), when one uses it to try and fool oneself it perhaps isn't so good.

DJ

I agree when it is used intentionally that it is no good..but I think that the point of a true mask is that most of the time you dont even know that you are doing it...wouldn't you agree..I think half the time it is after the fact that you even realize that you were doing it..if even then..at least I found it to be that way for me..I could be wrong..what do you think?

self-sufficiency and being okay, aloof

IF I ever had a mask, it broke... Because now it is what you see is what you get... Although I do remember laughing when talking about some abuse experiences.. sooo if I am happy it is written all over my face... If i am sad it is written all over my face ... if i am afraid it is written all over my face... So I have no mask.. I hope by not having a mask doesn't make me a bigger nut....

Laugh, smile and make jokes....all the time. Nobody would ever know that I have major depression, along with major suicidal ideation.

I am a "Richard Corey".

i to use my masks to cover up my true feelings , i have many masks, happy masks, stupid masks even outragess masks. and man do i use them, because i feel showing true feelings is a sign of weakness, and i dont want to come across as weak
but thats just me.....

Believe it or not.... my mask use to be my MAKE-UP - I would never leave the house or let any one come over with out it on.
NOW - I just shower, wash hair, let dry, pull up and out the door I go.... hubby loves it.

LoVe,
Rhapsody -

what you see, with me, is what you get. unless i'm at work. then you would never know that i'm hurting inside.......p

My smile and laugh.

yep, everything's fine. got it covered, yep. no prob.

It was brought to my attention all of my wonderful masks. My always happy smiling thing when I'm hurt, and my sarcasm and my constant joking and thats just the stuff I actually can see myself now, I probably do much more.

<--- Funny mask ... (shades! )

A lot like EV's - being self sufficient and OK, when really I want someone to jump in and help me row the boat.

I tend to smile or laugh when I'm giving a doctor or therapist a run down of my symptoms. Once, when I saw a counselor and was explaining the psychological abuse I went through with my husband, she goes "Well, you certainly are doing better than most." Why? Because I wasn't sitting there curled in a ball and sobbing my eyes out? I don't like crying. I view it as showing weakness, and I don't want healthcare providers to see me as weak and unable to carry out their recommendations because I might seem too fragile. Then when I fail to follow through, they can't understand why.

my mask - I dissociate when experiencing anything uncomrfortable or upsetting and so on at least I used to a majority of my days and nights. otherwise I would not have been diagnosed as having DID. I still do but not to the extent that I used to because some of my memory pieces have been integrated.

I hide behind an air of self-confidence that I don't really feel. I have also been called aloof and an ice-queen. But that is just my way of trying to keep people out of my space.

I also tend to hide behind my efficiency - that way I feel less of a failure. I don't know if that is a mask though.

Other than that I hide behind baggy clothing.....

I'm aloof most of the time. I don't want to be aloof.

My mask consumes me at times. I think everybody has a mask of some sort, there's always a moment when a person has to fake a smile or hold back a bout of frustration.

I think I pretend to be sane and complex when the truth is I'm crazy and shallow.

Well my mask is my eternal smile and laugh.

I'm always smiling on the outside and laughing. People think I have this bubbly, happy personality when in reality it's actually quite goth.

furry paws and claws........

Thanks for sharing everyone!

my mask is all to do with not telling anyone anything real or important bout me - so i use sarcasm a lot instead of answering questions bout me and i just generally dont tell anyone anything personal about me - i guess keeping people at a distance in that way is my mask n what i see as keeping me safe and invulnerable