The more we become our best selves, the more we drop personas that we use to hide our true selves. The more we are our true selves, the scarier life gets. Why? Because the personas — the projected selves we use are designed to protect ourselves — and as we shed them, we sense our vulnerability.
To some extent, personas are a necessary part of life.
Not everyone can be trusted with our true selves. People who are scheming and manipulative can be counted on to take advantage of our vulnerability.
Other personas help us to identify ourselves to one another…the teacher, police officer, physician, nurse, and plumber (as well as hundreds of others) are known by their professional personas. Those labels allow us to aid one another with confidence and reduces the time it takes to find the person trained to do certain kinds of work.
But there are times when personas can keep us from getting real. We hide behind them in order to insure that we are loved or respected. The sad irony is that when we do we insure that we are never loved for who we are.
Then it’s time to get real and that is when becoming our best selves gets scary.
When it does, remember these things:
Getting real is the only way to give love and be loved.
The love we give and receive is grounded in God’s love. It is not finally dependent on the love that other people have for us.
And on the other side of the scary stuff lies the freedom to live the life you were given to live.