As You Like It

>”All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” As You Like It, William Shakespeare

“Pretend, Act as if..” http://bit.ly/8sib6T Today’s Management tip from the Harvard Business Review.

Two different sources voicing both the reality and the necessity of playacting – survival certainly demands a bag full of tricks and weapons. Yet, my vociferous inner self cries out to challenge the practice.

While we all wear many hats – and playact some of our fantasies some of the time, can you really forget your core? Values, credos, thoughts, feelings – the DNA of our personalities doesn’t take a hike when we are on stage, the lights and cameras of others catching our ugly other side. At some point in the conversation, the “lie”, the pretence, the hidden truth will sneak in. And then, you’ll lose your balance. And the fall will be nasty and embarassing.

Why is it hard for some people to cast themselves as the protagonists? Hundreds of reasons, explanations, excuses, ramifications – but in the end of the day, when you are left alone in front of the mirror, you have to see YOU.

And the options here seem clear to me: You either like or dislike what you see. I presume that those who like who and what they see, go on being comfortable in their own skin. The challenge is with all these people who don’t like what they see – and as a result of the fear of being found out, recognized for the ugly duckling they think they are, they hide behind their masks and go on pretending to be something else, someone else, uttering words which may sound strange if not spoken from the heart.

So, I now have 3 questions for you:

1. How important is it for others to believe you?
2. What does it mean to you to be understood?
3. How important is it to be accepted? 

The answers are yours and yours alone to think through. But, in the end, if others believe your made-up story and understand your myth, then the person who is accepted and loved is not you but a stranger.
 
Is this what you really want in the end?