Conceal? Pretend? or Reveal?

We seem to mainly text or to contact one another via some form of technology nowadays. Rather than meeting in person or even connecting verbally on the phone we choose to send a quick picture, a like or a few words with or without emojis to connect in a quick way with another person. This can be fun and help us stay connected but it can also provide an escape and a way of avoiding dealing with uncomfortable feelings... especially our own. 

What might this type of connection conceal? Emoticons can conceal as much as they reveal. Beautiful Instagram and Snapchat accounts may give the appearance of having a perfect social media presence but they don't always, if rarely, tell the whole story. The need for approval, happiness, success and security that drives this need to pretend and conceal what is actually going on, is likely to leave us feeling let down, unvalidated and unworthy.  

We can connect in a far more satisfying way in person. Communication includes body language with only a small percentage being the spoken word. Meaning is communicated with the way words are said and through our body language. There may still be misunderstanding but if we truly value one another then we need to make time for more actual reality rather than online reality.

Real life is full of imperfection not social media perfection. Real life is also full of uncertainty. While we don't want to burden others with all our personal downers but we benefit greatly from sharing the ups and downs with one another. While happiness is good, sadness is imperative too. We can't really know one without the other. We need each other and we need to stop concealing, or rather we need to begin revealing who we really are. We especially need to do this introspectively. It helps to begin to personally consider what we are thinking, feeling and how that effects who we are and what we do. This can be quite daunting but really valuable as we develop a more secure sense of self. 

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