This is a response to the one-word prompt “Mask”  by “The Daily Post.”

I have been reading the book “Every Crooked Path” by Steven James and in the book there are two things that have really grabbed my attention, one being that the criminals or bad guys in the story are wearing masks to conceal their identity at certain points throughout the story, and the other is that pretty much no one is who they seem to be at first glance. Steven James really does a great job of showing the meany layers to individual people. Anyway, it got me thinking about our own “masks” in our everyday lives. How many layers are there to who you really are underneath the “mask” or “masks” that you put on?

We all have our “masks” that we put on either at certain times or all the time. They are there so others will only see what we want them to see about us. If we are hurting due to the loss of a love one, but we don’t want others to see that we are hurting, we will put up a mask of being all right of being happy and so forth. Though a lot of times these “masks” that we wear are to show what others expect to or want to see about ourselves. The key thing to know is that these “masks” hide who we truly are not only from the world and people around us but even from ourselves.

You see, we can become so used to our “masks” and have on so much that we actually forget about them and are ourselves mistaken by them for our real selves. In fact the “masks” can if we are not carfull stop being masks and actually become who we are. Having “masks” is not all bad and could be a good thing for ourselves every now and then if they are used sparingly, they do not coverup to much of who we really are, and we do not forget that they are there.

So, what is your “mask?” How many layers are there to your mask and are you really aware of them all? Take a very good look at your self to find the answer. We all need to be aware of the “masks” that we wear.