The masks we wear

We will soon be adorned in costumes, wigs, and makeup, becoming characters we would otherwise avoid. We wear masks on Halloween, and take them off when the day's over and go back to our regular selves. Or so we may think.

Truth is, most of us wear invisible masks in our everyday lives, especially in the workplace. We hope to live our lives being who we really are, but for some reason most of us get up, put on our cloaks, and as we walk into work, we put our masks on. “Good morning, how are you?” we hear, and “great” is how we answer, even if we are not. Or, we ask how the other person is, when we have too much on our own minds to care.

We pretend everything is great, when our home lives are stressful, money is tight, the kids are fighting, or we have the flu. We meet customers and figure out how they will buy from us; our motive is clear, but we don’t dare ask for the sale. We don’t shake hands or hug anymore, because we might get sick from any type of human contact, even though many of us are not planning to get the flu shot. We mask our fears about getting sick and our fears of being anti social.

We pretend we know what we are doing, even if we are not that secure, because that is what professional workers do. We pretend to be busy when we answer emails, chat in the lunch room, or Facebook message our friends. We mask the things we don’t want our co-workers and bosses to realize about us, like insecurities or fears. We mask our home lives from our work lives, and we mask some of the really awesome things we do, so others will not be jealous of us.

We all wear masks, of varying kinds, in all jobs, and all facets of our lives. It would be too scary to take our masks off altogether, but hopefully we are able to remove these masks somewhere, without fear of retribution.

The masks we wear at work are there to protect us in some way, perhaps from the truths about ourselves, or perhaps from others who judge. We all wear them!

But maybe, as we put together our costumes for another fun filled Halloween, we at least acknowledge the masks we wear in our everyday lives, and maybe, we learn to take off these masks a little more often.