Every person has secrets of their own varying in its impact and seriousness. The secret could be their own battle with mental health, abuse the knowledge of their actions which could be deemed inappropriate by society or even they don’t like someone etc. We keep all this locked up in hopes no one will ever know. But the truth is no secret is a secret.
People where many masks throughout their lives such as the social mask. The mask allows them to interact and manoeuvre in everyday life without their secret affecting them and everyone knowing. However a mask is a temporary cover it has a tendency to fall off or reveal small aspects of what’s underneath.
Everyday a person tells the world their secrets without even being aware they are, called cognitive leaks. The stress of trying to mask a secret everyday comes at a cost. Our behaviour, feelings, thoughts, body language and facial cues will begin to give away the secret, allowing the world insight into our hidden world.
They say your eyes are the gateway into your soul, this can be true as you can’t mask your eyes or attempt to hide within them. The same way an image is worth a thousand words. If we take the time and observe people we can see their true pain and cries for help. We all rush around and don’t take a second to just think and look. If we take that second we see the mask which is being worn, we see the truth attempting to come out and the person as a whole. No one knows what the other is going through but we can attempt to support the person and offer our own advice from our experience.
Individuals with mental health where a mask but they try and take it off and cry for help but often no one notices or takes the time to observe it is occurring.
Sometimes we don’t keep secrets to hide from people but use them to protect them very people.
It’s okay not to be okay and too speak out and admit your mask has fallen and you no longer want to put it back on. Let’s take the first step and talk to each other.Just because you have the picture doesn’t mean you have the full story. We each have our own truth.
Mental Health in your words 