There can be a lot of stress and strain around feeling like you need to portray a particularly image to other people, and ultimately pretending to be something or someone you are not. The gap you feel between who you really are and who you are trying to display yourself as can cause a huge amount of anxiety.

The energy put into acting a particular way or meeting some perceived expectation of how you should be is exhausting. Not only that, it’s somewhat dishonest.

This is not the same as practicing some form of self-improvement; we all have areas where we’d like to do better. No - the painful chasm here is the gap left when your values don’t match up to your actions. If you don’t give yourself permission to be exactly who you really are, then the increase of stress involved in constant mask-wearing and pretending will just get bigger and bigger, and it will catch up on you.

We can only function so long without peace.

Being you is vital - don’t be afraid to do so.

If you’ve never known, find out what makes you who you are. Discover the things that give you joy and find ways to express yourself.

It may feel counterintuitive as you may have the thought, “people won’t like me if I’m honestly me.” However, being motivated by integrity and being truly you should improve things, especially as regards stress. The pressure to perform is now gone, like the end of a tension headache.