I didn’t like dressing up or wearing masks even as a child and i still don’t like it as a grownup. This also applies to the masks that i learned to put on in everyday life or in certain situations. It annoys me to come into situations in which I put on a mask for certain reasons. I try to change these situations or, if I cannot, to avoid them. So that I can do without masks at best. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work. Again and again I find myself wearing a mask. But I am mostly aware of the mask and try to get rid of it quickly. It' s an important or perhaps the most important challenge in life to find oneself, to accept oneself and to be oneself without a mask.

That’s why I find it all the sadder to experience people hiding behind so many masks that you don’t actually see an "I" anymore. I often have the feeling that these people no longer even feel their personality, they are no longer in touch with their deepest desires and only fulfill external expectations towards their current mask. They live their lives according to external rules, criteria, opinions and thereby lose their identity. They wear masks permanently in front of other people and themselves.

Masks and stories help us to dress up our lives. They help us be someone else. They help us to fit in. They protect us from being hurt. But in the end you live quite lonely behind the mask, in a life that is not your own. Those who can no longer see themselves also become invisible to others as a person. I would therefore encourage every mask wearer to give it a try and take off the mask(s), at least for a while. Even if your head tells you otherwise and tries to trick you, be sure that there are people who love you, you, the person behind the mask.

Note: This is a repost of a text i shared in 2018 on Instagram. I think my new blog is a much better place to store my thoughts and stories that I have written down over the last few years.