I wear a mask that has beautiful features in it. I always feel praised but I never felt happy and contented. This mask is in my face for so long now. I didn't know that I am wearing it until someone told me too.
"Behind your mask is the true you. Why don't you remove it?" he asked.
"People can accept me with this. I can't remove it," I whispered and smiled.
I continue wearing it every day. I really thought that this will complete me, will satisfy me and will teach me to be me.
I live for years having this mask that is still on my face. I have a fear that someone will notice it and someone will remove it. I don't want to do it at all.
Until one day, the man came back to me.
"I need to remove it," he tried to reach my face to remove it.
"Please no. This is the only way for acceptance," I begged to him.
"If you will not remove it, then you will be hurt forever. Why are you thinking of other people loving you when you can't even love yourself?" he asked that made me emotional inside.
"Why do you mind?" I asked him.
"Why don't you let me remove that and I can assure you that someone will stay?" he said.
I let him remove my mask in front of the people who told me that they love me. I didn't stop him for I want to know what is real. Will they stay? Being afraid at the result, I close my eyes but I can still feel his hands moving my mask slowly and carefully.
"Now, open it," he said.
I look around and I saw them looking at me ridiculously. I knew this will happen but I still did it. It breaks my heart as I saw them leaving me one by one. I was really devastated when no one is left except the man and me.
"I told you that no one will want this," I said to him.
"Who told you 'no one'?" he said.
I look up and he held my chin. He smiled at me and he pointed to himself.
"They are not the ones who love you because they can't accept you. However, a certain guy who is just looking at you from afar already accepted you as the real you when you didn't even notice it. Honestly, he loves you more than you love yourself," he said while still holding my chin.
I never felt special and happy unlike what I felt before. I thought I will just be contented with the praises and compliments. I thought I can be accepted by all with just the mask.
Living that life for years, I regret living at all.
Now I know that a million praises are nothing for a real love and a mask is nothing if someone is really accepting you for who you really are, I learned to accept the real me.
Each one of us should know how to accept who we really are because most of the time, suffering starts when we don't know how to LOVE YOURSELF.