Why do I feel like I'm pretending to be someone I'm not?
Identity & Self-Worth
This feeling often indicates a disconnect between your authentic self and the persona you present to gain acceptance or avoid rejection.
Feeling like you're pretending or wearing a mask is a common experience that can be exhausting and isolating. This often happens when there's a significant gap between who you really are inside and the persona you present to the world. You might have learned early in life that certain parts of yourself weren't acceptable, so you developed a 'false self' to gain approval or avoid rejection. This could involve hiding your true interests, opinions, emotions, or aspects of your identity development that you managing fear others might judge. Sometimes this pretending becomes so automatic that you lose touch with who you really are underneath the mask. You might find yourself agreeing with opinions you don't actually hold, laughing at jokes you don't find funny, or pursuing goals that don't align with your values. This disconnection can lead to feelings of emptiness, Anxiety disorder, or Major depressive disorder because you're not living authentically. The path back to authenticity involves gradually identifying and expressing your true thoughts, feelings, and preferences, starting in safe Interpersonal relationship or situations. This process can feel scary because it risks rejection, but it's essential for building genuine connections and a sense of finding identity/building-self-worth" class="internal-link">self-worth. Remember that the right people will appreciate your authentic self, and those who don't weren't truly compatible with you anyway.