I spent yesterday at an event our church puts on as an alternative to Trick or Treating. Tons of candy, games, prizes and literally every inflatable bounce house within a 50-mile radius come together each year to serve the community and 20,000 of our friends. The event is awesome, and yesterday was no exception as my oldest volunteered at the event while my daughter ran around with her friends enjoying the activities.
This time each year, millions of kids put on masks and don costumes intent on making others believe they are someone or something else. Their intent is simple, fool others into believing they are who they pretend to be.
It makes me think of the opening lines of an old song, “The Stranger” by Billy Joel.
“Well, we all have a face
That we hide away forever
And we take them out
And show ourselves when everyone has gone”
As I walked around yesterday keeping an eye on my daughter and her friends while they ran around and had fun, this idea of a mask kept coming back to me overlaid by the lyrics to The Stranger.
The fact is, I think there are a lot of people out there who put on a mask each day to simply get through the day. I think there are a lot of people who want more out of their lives, but don’t know how to get what they are looking for so instead they slump into an existence that isn’t on par with what they imagined their life could be.
Billy Joel said it best in the opening 2 lines, “...we all have a face that we hide away forever...” Why hide that face from the world. Why not let the true you shine free. I met with a potential client last week who was stuck in a rut. He was very introverted and admitted that he struggled engaging with people he worked with and as such his career path and trajectory had stalled.
In our limited time meeting his potential was on full display for me to see, but in talking with him I realized that within his current environment he had simply hidden the very things that made him special and unique. He was in effect wearing a mask each day at work that he hid behind.
In other words, in accepting his own introverted nature, he had become complacent and content to stay where he was content to not challenge himself or his environment to extract more. I don’t yet know if I will be hired by this client, I sure hope I am because I know I can help him reset his direction in life and allow the talents I saw on display during our brief time together to shine and become apparent to others.
I am also aware though, that as our time together concluded the mask he wore was put back on. He was returning to the world he knew, a world wherein his true personality, his true talents, his true skills - the complete package of who he truly was - currently remains hidden from those he finds himself around on a daily basis.
In our meeting we discussed how coaching would be of benefit, offering skills to allow his personality to shine and stand out from those around him. We identified specific goals he wants to accomplish while briefly discussing the hard steps and social discomfort he would experience in getting to where he wants to be in life.
His ultimate success will start however when he, like millions of others retire their costumes and masks this week and return to just being themselves. For my potential new client, it is time to take off the mask and let the world see him for who he is and what he can offer. But I know he is not alone, we all wear figurative masks that we hide behind.
So the challenge is simple this week, identify those masks and retire them once and for all. Don’t be ashamed of who you are, and yes, I know that this can be difficult for some. But it is within challenge that we truly grow, so challenge yourself this week - I think you will be surprised by the results.
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