C’è una maschera per la famiglia

Una per la società

Una per il lavoro

E quando stai solo

resti nessuno. (Luigi Pirandello)

"There is a mask for the family, one for the society, one for the job. But when you're alone no one remains”.

I did not know Pirandello's work so well as to criticize him. I don't know if the last sentence of this aphorism was intentionally negative or not. I do not think that the human personality is like an onion where you remove layer after layer to reach the tasty core.

First in my experience every mask we wear in every moment of our lives is just OUR, OWN mask. Every one of the thousands of masks we build accurately and with passion in our lives, are just a product of ourselves.

Maybe we build each mask with the purpose of hiding something however I believe we wear masks to reveal and show some parts of ourselves.

Social masks are just facets of our mind that we want, decide or just let others see. Sometimes those masks work perfectly together, are consistent one to another, are showing coherently what others see like a specific personality. Sometimes that's not happening, Sometimes what the others see is a magmatic material with no sense and coordination or, worse, they see a different path and characteristics. In that case people can say you are a strange person, maybe eccentric or for sure a little difficult to approach.

But still you can live perfectly well with that. But sometimes you feel that a mask is a little uncomfortable, maybe you sense and feel like with wearing a physical masks, having something heavy on your face that doesn't fit adequately.

Just in this moment, your friends can call for “yourself” maybe in the paradoxical way of “please, be Yourself! Like it would be possible for you to be other than “Yourself”.

So, who and what are your friends calling for? Who or what is that “Yourself” that they seems to know very well? And if that is “yourself” who or what are are the other “selves” that you sometimes pretend to be? A different person? State of mind or what?

I believe that each of us is just all the masks he or she is used to wear with no exception! Myself if it is a real thing, is just a like certain movies, “written, directed, produced … and acted out by this person called “Myself”.

What abilities, skills and tools needs that individual so brave to manage everything? How he or she can rest and relax one moment from this heavy duty? What is the best way to help him or her in that management project?