Self-Care Tip #110 – Find your masquerade and let it teach you how to be open.
We often talk about taking masks off. About being open and “face” our lives with courage. However doing that isn’t always as easy as saying it. Sometimes doing the opposite makes it easier in preparation for when we have courage to try again. Sometimes putting the mask on makes it easier to more completely know and be known.
On Twitter today, this came from bigfishtopdogs Theresa BradleyBanta:
Here’s my #FF. These people rock! They engage!
Getting that fresh compliment almost stung when I realized how I preened underneath it. Here in the real world, I don’t know who to show my feathers to. My reply to Theresa was
Wow. How come I can’t hear anyone say that in “real life?”. Twitter is like a smokey dark room where anything can happen.
Sometimes people think of hiding behind things as a way to do indiscrete lascivious acts that you wouldn’t want to do if you were identified.
I propose that a little hiding is a good thing for ourselves. To get up close and personal. To share over-the-top compliments and receive them. It doesn’t mean something bad unless we use it badly. I propose that when we disguise a little on occasion, we might remember how to act more freely when we are in the open – how to, when we try again.
Having the courage to try again and again to connect gets easier when we have fun reminders as to why we want it so bad.
Question: What have your positive experiences been when you were a little less inhibited? If fantasies could come true, how would you like it to carry over into your “real” life? Please tell me your story.
You do rock indeed 🙂
…See what I mean! 😉 Many thanks from one rocker to another. keep on!
Hi Sana! Wow what a wonderful surprise reading your post!
I work my very hardest to keep twitter from being like a smoky dark room. If someone new follows me I read their tweets before I ever consider following back. If they have a website, I visit it. Do they engage with other people? Do they ask questions? Do they share the work of others by re-tweeting articles or tweets?
I have to say that with regard to you, the answer was yes, yes, yes. You truly put yourself out there and connected with me and with others. That is the reason I wanted to share you with the people I know and truly like on twitter.
I agree with you. Social media may be a way to safely take baby steps towards finding the courage to connect. It’s also a great way to practice openly giving compliments and atta boys. Again, if a new person does not demonstrate a willingness to do this, I do not follow back. And I think it’s safe to say I feel very much the same in “real life”.
But there is a danger there. Some actually treat social media like something they can hide behind only to promote themselves and their desires and wishes. It’s not always easy to tell but I’m getting better with practice.
Thank you so much for the topic. And thank you Sana for connecting with me online with such openness and generosity!
~Theresa
As so often happens, the comments and replies I get on posts expand and make the small post larger, more clear, and more helpful. Thank u so much for this! “The danger” is a real one that u mentioned.
u r so welcome for what ever I have and can offer. I find that as we grow older, we loose some of our freedom’s to connect w those friends we love and must sieze the day when given a chance to find new ones.
Thanks for your kind words too! u know i will wag any time :).
keep on!