Faking your feelings can also be seen as wearing a mask. It’s an emotional mask, obviously, but it’s still a mask that is meant to cover up what is actually going on.

Show Notes:
There are so many reasons for you to put an emotional mask on. It could be your inability to trust people right now, history with not being believed in your feelings, shame & embarrassment, and many other reasons. And I want you to know the reasons matter, but not as much as you may think. What’s more important is figuring out how to not let those reasons get in the way of allowing your mindset to shift when it comes to no longer using the mask.

It’s very easy for us to use what has happened in the past to crowd our thoughts & decision-making when trying to create change in our lives. We don’t want to go through the same thing again. And I get that. It’s tough to endure the same experience over & over if it’s not a positive one. But unless we impart some change in our lives, we will be susceptible to the same things happening over & over in our lives because we aren’t doing anything to move forward. Standing still & doing nothing is not hiding. You’re still exposed to the trouble. And you can’t go backwards because that would be worse. You need to move forward, which is scary, but necessary & will allow you to break free.

This was me for so many years of my life. I didn’t feel like I could share my feelings with anyone, even my family, that I was hurting, in pain and needed support & help. It was because the few times I did ask for help, I was rejected or made to feel like I was being weak or bad for experiencing anything negative or making a deal about it. And I moved through my life being more fake than real until I was in college. My mask started to break because it was all too much to bare. And those broken pieces allowed a few people to get in & be trusted, but not many. I think I was in my early 30’s when I finally started to take off the mask.

This means that no matter how old you are or have far gone you believe you are wearing your own mask that you can still take it off. It might take a bit of work, support from others & courage, but it can be done. And maybe you won’t let everything out all at once, but if you can start with being honest about your emotions, it will be a really good beginning.

Let’s go through 4 reasons why it’s important to stop pretending to be happy:

1. You can’t honor your feelings when you’re pretending what those feelings are.
2. You can’t get help with your mental health struggles if you pretend there aren’t any.
3. The longer you pretend, the heavier everything will feel, which could lead you to crack under pressure.
4. You’re not being authentic to yourself if you’re pretending to feel one way when you actually feel another.

My hope is this information & chat has helped you realize that pretending to be happy & keeping your mask up is only the act of continually causing pain for yourself because it only gets harder & harder the longer you wait to be free of that burden.

Thank you again for listening & I hope this episode was helpful.

Come visit me on my Instagram page @sabrinajoyperozzo to say hi or on Clubhouse @sabrinajperozzo to chat!

Visit www.sabrinajoy.com for more content & blog posts!

Have any questions, comments or feedback?  Send

Support the show

Watch the Video Version of RPG: https://www.youtube.com/@realpositivegirl/podcasts
Buy the Planner on AMAZON!: https://amzn.to/3WwthT2
Visit me on Instagram or TikTok: @sabrinajoyperozzo
Email Me: [email protected]