Don’t Worry: Just Be

Your boss call your into his office right on your arrival to work, even before you had a chance to have your coffee. He reprimands you on the last project you’ve been working so hard for over a month, bringing up comments and saying what needs to be fixed urgently. Then, the bastard dares to remind you of the report he has been waiting for other past few weeks.

Such a monstrous morning can frustrate a statue!

How do you react when you see the authorized figure, sitting in a comfortable, leather chair in front of you, blabbering something about your professional qualities. While both of you are perfectly aware that you know how things really work  and there are few better professionals than yourself in the world – he, your boss, has the authority to hire, fire, raise and plummet you and everybody on the other side of the wall.

So, how do you react? Do you start putting forward counter-arguments, letting the idiot know exactly who’s the master? Do you focus on a spot right between his eyes and sit there motionlessly, watching the light bulb flicker above the desk (yes, his office is gloomy even in the morning hours).

Imagine this is a performance and you are two actors, playing their roles on the stage. The spectators are invisible, but they must be hiding somewhere.

Boss. Colleage. Father. Son. Friend.

We play our roles and we have our statuses. They inevitably intertwine with our everyday routine, dictating our behaviour and perception of the reality. How can you tell your real “self” from you professional “self” or social “self”? What masks do you wear and for what occassions?

Masks are essential. Masks are necessary. Masks protect and defend us, giving shelter from whatever might hurt or disappoint.

“Indifference” and “coolness” – it goes well for your boss’s office, especially when he’s in his junky mood. It protects you from feeling interior, and from bad mood.

“Courtesy” – when you are talking to your spouse’s 80 year old aunt. And you are bored, tired and hungry. It protects you from losing your temper.

“Patience, patience, patience” – patience is not your style, but you do wear the mask in emergency cases, such as – spending an afternoon with your kids in the park or doing some monotonous work.

“Glamous and style” – even if being glamorous is a part of you, you might still wear the mask on special ocassions, when your style has to be emphasized. The mask says “I’m super stylish, eat your heart all of you”.

“Jerk” – when you want to look more stupid, simple and plain than you really are. There must be reasons for that.

Every person has got his set of masks, sometimes several masks combined. We wear “professional” masks at work, “social” masks at some community events, “family” masks in the cycle of our family occasions.

Have you ever seen yourself without the mask? In the darkest hours before dawn, in the sweetest moments before you’re falling asleep, on the next day after you’d met the love of your life… What happened if we lived with our emotions and feelings naked, unprotected, unmasked?