Of Halloween and Masks
When our children were young, they loved putting on their Halloween masks and believing they were genuinely scaring us. After a few moments of enjoying how frightened we had become, they would pull off their masks and exclaim, "It's okay, it's just ME!" We would respond with an exaggerated sense of relief, "Oh, thank goodness, because we were SO scared.!"
We remembered this fun Halloween exchange with our children a few years later when they were in middle and high school. Now the costumes and behaviors that scared us at times were not just related to Halloween, but to the different roles that adolescents often try on as they are forming their identities. At this stage of parenting, it became even more important to remember and stay connected with the "It's okay, it's just ME" that was our children's enduring core identity, often hidden behind the many disguises of adolescence.
I also remember visiting with an elderly gentleman at this time of year in a skilled care facility and asking him if he had decided on a Halloween costume yet. He thought for a moment and then grinned and said, "I'm going to dress up as an old man this year—no one will have any idea it's me." He then pointed to himself and his clothes and added, "I guess I'm already wearing my costume!" We laughed together, and I realized that behind the exterior of his aging appearance, there too was still an "It's okay, it's just ME!" inside.
There is indeed "a just me" inside each of us. It is our true self, our core identity, that endures throughout our lifetime. Because our true self can be very vulnerable at times, we sometimes develop different "masks" to help us get along in the day-to-day world. There is nothing wrong with these “disguises” except when we confuse these masks—our own or others, with the true self. When any one of us are going through a challenging time this is especially important to remember.This is because, during such times, we may be more likely to hide our true selves and pretend everything is fine.
Halloween masks make for great fun—for young and old. For Halloween, the whole point is to fool others and to mask one's true identity—to be someone other than who we really are. The rest of the year, though, let's remember that hiding our true selves is a sure way to erode our own well-being, as well as the well-being of the important relationships in our lives.
Revealing our true selves will be more difficult when we feel most vulnerable. During such times, we may be tempted to put on masks, especially the masks of anger and irritability, which like Halloween masks, are designed to scare people away. Making the sometimes difficult choice to share our true selves, to say to others, "It's okay, it's just ME!" will do wonders for both our personal and relational well-being.
*Our Wellness Compass Podcast this week expands on our true selves and the possible ways we can mask that true self from ourselves and others. You can listen in. your favorite podcast app, or by clicking on the “Podcast” tab in the header at the top of this page.