Powerful post. Thanks for sharing. I grew up feeling a lot of the same pressures as you’ve laid out. To cater to an “image” of what a good child, son, or brother should be. But it’s just that: an image.
It’s not who we are. And even then, we change over time. We learn and we grow. So I’m trying to be more authentic. I think it’s necessary in our current age where everything is fabricated in one way or another to improve how we “look”.
Feeling will likely be the last frontier of authenticity. We need more of that. Thanks for this perspective.
I'm so glad you found it useful! It seems to me my generation is more willing to pursue authenticity than my parents or grandparents were. That gives me hope. I have the sad, vague feeling I never really knew my parents or my grandparents because their facades were so relentless. It's so isolating to live behind a mask. I know the safety of it is an illusion; but it's hard to leave it just the same. Even harder is the feeling my family never really got to know me because they were working so hard to make me into someone else. We all missed out on each other because of the mythical thinking neighbors! What a tragic waste. My writing gives me a chance to play with how it might be different if we made different choices. Thanks for reading and the comment.
Powerful post. Thanks for sharing. I grew up feeling a lot of the same pressures as you’ve laid out. To cater to an “image” of what a good child, son, or brother should be. But it’s just that: an image.
It’s not who we are. And even then, we change over time. We learn and we grow. So I’m trying to be more authentic. I think it’s necessary in our current age where everything is fabricated in one way or another to improve how we “look”.
Feeling will likely be the last frontier of authenticity. We need more of that. Thanks for this perspective.
I'm so glad you found it useful! It seems to me my generation is more willing to pursue authenticity than my parents or grandparents were. That gives me hope. I have the sad, vague feeling I never really knew my parents or my grandparents because their facades were so relentless. It's so isolating to live behind a mask. I know the safety of it is an illusion; but it's hard to leave it just the same. Even harder is the feeling my family never really got to know me because they were working so hard to make me into someone else. We all missed out on each other because of the mythical thinking neighbors! What a tragic waste. My writing gives me a chance to play with how it might be different if we made different choices. Thanks for reading and the comment.