The Importance Of Emotional Masks

Pastor and author Rick Warren says that the “most exhausting activity is pretending to be what you know you aren’t.” I wholeheartedly agree with this, and it is one of the reasons that I decided to work on eliminating my constant use of emotional masks that attempt to project a constantly happy, fun persona. Specifically, I wanted to stop wearing a happy mask all of the time because it created difficulties with emotional expression. I was active in working to improve my chosen behavior, even through the many successes and non-successes along the way. This project taught me much about myself, and I learned how to counteract this behavior in my future interpersonal interactions. Throughout the period of the time that we worked on this assignment, …show more content…
A number of them have become very close, personal friends. Previously, earlier on in my life before college and this project, I was not able to make close connections with people because of my inability and fear of expressing honest emotions and feelings. That all changed because of this project. I started to notice that I made many friends that I felt very close with. I trusted people and they trust me in return here. Some of these friends have become some of my first best friends who I am able to share anything and everything with. It is a major relief to be able to share the real me with others when I take off my mask. On the other hand, there are times when the efforts do not go …show more content…
I learned so many things that will benefit me thanks to this project. One thing was that this plan is working and going well, so I need to keep using it and there is a lot more work to do. Mainly, the greatest thing I learned was that there is another level to this issue that I must work on. It became clear to me that once I would express what I was feeling, I would not like to explain why I felt that way. Explaining myself would be very helpful in further being truthful and open. Furthermore, I found out that eliminating masks is usually a good thing that can help me make lifelong friends and relationships. It is also very lethargic. I always feel relief when I share what I am really feeling, and I can breathe a bit easier once the immense weight from my shoulders is gone. In the future, I now know that letting down my false facade of happiness will most likely be beneficial and gain emotional closeness and relief. Also, it is not as hard to do as I used to think in the past. Being straightforward and expressive in interpersonal interactions gets me further than pretending to be happy. I can make bonds with others, feel better about myself, and I can better go through life with myself and others being able to know what is going on in my