Why We Mask Our Pain

Hello, my name is Megan and for years I would mask my pain.
For years I would hold a ragingly bright smile on my face to show the world how happy I was, when in reality I was drowning. I felt like there was no point to my life, like a dark cloud was hanging over my head and it took all that I had and all that I was to just climb out of bed in the morning.

But, I was always everyone’s ray of sunshine. The life of the party. The one that was there to make you laugh. But you see I was hiding so much that no one knew. And I know that there are others out there doing this too.

I’m here to tell you… it is okay and it’s time to come back to life.
We mask our pain for all different reasons.

Because society told us we need to be happy.
Because the thoughts we have aren’t “normal”
Because we think everyone else’s happiness comes first
Because we believe that if we actually allow ourselves to feel this pain, we won’t be strong enough to let go.

Because life isn’t supposed to be this way.
Because you are alone in this.
Because no one will want to listen.
You’re doing it and you don’t even realize it. You are hiding something that you don’t even realize you need to hide. Why? Because you haven’t allowed yourself to feel. You haven’t allowed yourself to just stop and look in on what is going on.
You are not alone. The truth is, life is hard right now. You’re juggling a life of who you are supposed to be and why you aren’t living how you want. You’re doing a balancing act of keeping everyone happy while just getting by with life. But you totally forgot about you.
Allow yourself to feel it, so that you can overcome it. Allow yourself to talk about it, even if it’s hard. Stop masking and tell someone; “HELLO, I am not okay.”
You are who you choose to be. And today you can choose to create a change. You are not alone.