Masks...

A quote that really hit home to me how much I had lived most recently, until being brave enough to leave:

"All of us wear masks... They can be worn out of love and the desire to remain close to those around us; to spare them from the complicated reality of our frayed psyches.

We trade honesty for companionship, and in the process never truly know the hearts closest to us."

I feel a little better now, knowing that that particular 10 year period is over...

...I still wear a mask of sorts, but only a very flimsy one - I feel so much more psychologically healthy now that I can be myself 95% of the time.

Here's to one day when we can be honest to both ourselves and those close to us, and not put distance between us in the misguided view we are protecting instead of being true and real...