Today, we take our masks off and go back to our regular selves. Or so we may think. Truth is, most of us wear invisible masks in our everyday lives, especially in the workplace. We hope to live our lives being who we really are, but for some reason most of us get up, put on our cloaks, and as we walk into work, we put our masks on. “Good morning, how are you?” we hear, and “great” is how we answer, even if we are not. Or, we ask how the other person is, when we have too much on our own minds to care. We pretend everything is great, when our home lives are stressful, money is tight, the kids are fighting, or we have the flu. We meet customers and figure out how they will buy from us; our motive is clear, but we don’t dare ask for the sale. We don’t shake hands or hug anymore, because we might get sick from any type of human contact, even though many of us are not planning to get the flu shot. We mask our fears about getting sick and our fears of being anti social. We pretend we know what we are doing, even if we are not that secure, because that is what professional workers do. We pretend to be busy when we answer emails, chat in the lunch room, or Facebook message our friends. We try to include our co-workers in things we think they should be included in, and we exclude our bosses in the things that might cause grief, while making sure that we appear to be a part of everything. We mask the things we don’t want our co-workers and bosses to realize about us, like insecurities or fears. We mask our home lives from our work lives, and we mask some of the really awesome things we do, so others will not be jealous of us. We sometimes even mask our great ideas, accomplishments, or goals, so we don’t seem better than others around us. We all wear masks, of varying kinds, in all jobs, and all facets of our lives. It would be too scary to take our masks off altogether, but hopefully we are able to remove these masks somewhere, without fear of retribution. The masks we wear at work are there to protect us in some way, perhaps from the truths about ourselves, or perhaps from others who judge. We all wear them! But maybe, following another wonderfully ghoulish Halloween, we at least acknowledge the masks we wear in our everyday lives, and maybe, we learn to take off these masks a little more often.
Sharlene Massie is the C.E.O. of About Staffing Ltd., a dynamic personnel agency specializing in direct-hire and temporary placements. Questions for Sharlene? Visit the About Staffing website at www.aboutstaffing.com, and click on the link under the Sun logo. This article may be reproduced or transmitted if done so in its entirety, including this copyright line: Copyright 2009, by About Staffing Ltd., all rights reserved.
