🌓 DAY 3: The Mask I Wore to Survive

I wasn’t fake. I was surviving.

Before I could become who I truly am…

I had to face who I pretended to be.

And that’s what most people don’t understand.

I wasn’t trying to deceive anyone.

I wasn’t being inauthentic for fun.

I was just trying to stay alive.

Trying to belong.

Trying to avoid rejection.

Trying to make people comfortable — even when I was drowning inside.

That’s the mask.

And it fits so well that even you start to forget it’s not your face.

I wore a lot of masks:

• The good partner

• The spiritual man

• The "light" one who forgives too easily

• The strong one who never shows fear

• The son who bites his tongue

• The healer who holds it together

But underneath?

There was someone screaming to be seen.

I became a master at managing the room.

At softening my edges.

At dimming my truth just enough so I wouldn’t be “too much.”

And here’s the worst part —I got praised for it.

They loved the mask.

They admired the performance.

They thought I had it all figured out.

But inside?

I was vanishing.

The mask doesn’t just hide you from the world.

Eventually, it hides you from yourself.

And one day, you wake up…and you don’t recognize who’s in the mirror anymore.

That was my third dark night.

Not loud.

Not dramatic.

Just a slow, quiet ache:

“Who the fuck am I without this mask?”

So I took it off.

Bit by bit.

And people didn’t like that version.

Some left.

Some got angry.

Some said I changed.

But the truth?

I just stopped performing.

🗝 What I Learned:

• The mask isn’t fake — it’s survival

• You can’t become whole by being palatable

• When you take the mask off, your real people appear

• You don’t owe anyone a version of you that keeps them comfortable

🪞Final Reflection:

If you’ve been wearing the mask too —know this:

You didn’t do anything wrong.

You adapted.

You endured.

But now?

It’s safe to come home.

Not to the person they want.

To the person you are.

And if that version makes them uncomfortable?

Let them sit with it.

You’ve done that your whole life.