How much do you really reveal to the people around you?
Stop for a second and think about it.
Not from your head, which will often tell you half truths or full-on fibs…
But from your heart.
This is not by any means to say that we are all innately liars,
Or cowards afraid to live out loud.
What does happen to a large majority of us is we find ourselves living out certain roles…
Within our family and friends, at work, or even as we walk down the street- we find ourselves behaving as we are “expected”. Oftentimes it feels like other people get to have the funnier, meatier parts: the overly dramatic sister that has a new tragedy to complain about each week. Our gay best friend, who seems to get to be the life of the party no matter where he goes. The aunt who seems to have it all together 24/7, raising the perfect kids in the most pristine house imaginable.
Yet if you actually get any ONE of these individuals alone, really get to the heart of the matter- it is almost guaranteed that each one of these “characters” in your life will tell you exactly the same thing:
They are not fully themselves. They are not expressing what is truly going on inward.
Repression and suppression have become the great American way of living.
It has also been a huge part of the reason for the mental health epidemic that has overtaken our society like never before. As our world goes through one of the most turbulent and unpredictable periods in history, we have also found ourselves paralyzed by the mere idea of stepping out of line. We have become handcuffed to our personas.
If we are ever to truly feel alive, we have to take the great risk of being more than our names, our jobs, and our current financial stature. We must ask to be known as more than so and so’s wife, the office funny guy in the corner cubicle, or the tragic alcoholic that lives down the block. We are all choking back fears, stories, pieces of unbelievably profound wisdom. We are withholding our actual selves from one another.
At S.A.G.E. we welcome you to toss aside your “role”, even if it starts with just one session with your therapist. We invite you to stop saying the things you think a “person like you” should say- and speak your truth – we are listening.
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