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Do you also hide your feelings just to avoid questions?

The art of pretending.

Ellowww pretty souls,

I hope life feels a little lighter today. And if not, then at least I hope this piece feels like a hug. Because what I’m about to write is something I know we all do. Something that’s quietly exhausting. It’s called pretending. And we’re all experts at it, aren’t we?

We pretend so well, and it’s scary. We wake up with heavy hearts and still say, “I’m fine.” We laugh at jokes even when our chest feels hollow.
We show up dressed nice, smiling, talking like everything’s okay; when deep down, we’re crumbling.

Sometimes we even pretend in front of the mirror. We pretend to ourselves.
“Come on, it’s not that bad.”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“Just get over it.”
We lie to our own reflection because admitting the truth feels like too much.

We pretend in front of friends so they don’t worry. In front of family because we don’t want to disappoint. At work, in class, online. We pretend everywhere. We keep putting on that mask, over and over. Until the real us feels far away.

The truth is, sometimes pretending feels easier than explaining. How do we explain that we feel both everything and nothing at once?
How do we explain the ache that has no words? So we fake a smile, we change the subject, we distract ourselves. Over and over again.

Pretending doesn’t heal us. It hides us.

If today you’re pretending just to survive and just to breathe, I understand.
But I hope someday soon, you feel safe enough to stop.
To say, “Actually, I’m not okay.”
To cry without apology.
To sit in silence without pretending you’re fine.

We deserve people who see through the act and choose to stay. We deserve to be real, even if “real” is messy.

This piece is part series THE ART.

For people who haven’t read the recent article of this series:
Do you also feel like you are waiting for something?

Just a little fun fact: you can clap up to 50 times on a single Medium article. So, if you enjoyed this one, don’t hold back!