Hi, Look How Happy I Am!!!

Sorry it's been the better part of two weeks since I've written in here. I've been busy with other projects and, frankly, it's been a rather rough two weeks. But I'm back now and doing well again, which brings me to the next mask: being exuberantly happy and overly outgoing.

Now, it is possible for people to really enjoy being around others. I'm an introvert by nature and there's nothing wrong with that, just like there's nothing wrong with being extroverted. Where extroversion becomes a mask, though, is when a person is using it to keep everyone at arm's length. It could be by being the clown in your group of friends, that guy who says and does whatever he wants, pushing the limits of people's comfort zones, or the woman who wants to be the social butterfly, always flitting from one engagement to the next. It's a mark of confidence to be at least somewhat outgoing, since one of the results of true Christian confidence is liking people more, but if that extroversion is a means to keep others from knowing the real you, if you're uncomfortable with any silence, if you can't have a serious discussion but have to turn everything into a joke, then you're hiding behind a mask. At that point, even though it may look like confidence to those around you, it is really a mask based on the fear that if they knew the real you, they'd find you weren't good enough. The masked you is interesting and funny and charming while the real you is..."just" you.

I'm not going to go over how important or valuable you are to God again. You can all see my several previous posts for that. What I will say, though, is that the mask you're counting on to bring people into your life is the same thing that is keeping them out of it. This mask will seem to make itself necessary because, if you drop it, no one will recognize who was behind it because they don't know that person. Putting on the mask again makes them more comfortable being around you and so you keep it on because you want to be around people.

It's time to drop the act. I don't mean stop being friendly or outgoing. I mean stop keeping people out by pretending you're more outgoing than you feel like being. Let a few people in. Let them know you're human and that it's not all roses, sunshine, and apple pies for you. Be ok with not being the center of attention because your value isn't based on how many people are laughing at you.

Next time, I think I'll do a longer post about the other two masks, since they're related. Until then...