The mask you wear brings you freedom

If covid offered you peace, I see you. For many people, they found that wearing a mask was freedom. It allowed them a degree of separation and safety from others - not just in a physical sense by reducing the possibility of becoming ill, but for their mental health. 

For people with anxiety, depression or body dysmorphia, wearing a mask allowed them to be themselves more comfortably. And social distancing and quarantine offered the same opportunity. For those with these conditions, being alone often feels safer than being in connection with people. 

People that feel anxious about the way that they look may have found that wearing a mask meant they didn’t have to use makeup to conceal the things they didn’t like. It felt good to not be seen. 

For people who struggle to express their true feelings - they may have been able to whisper those words or have facial expressions that speak their heart. For these people, wearing a mask enabled them to be true. They could whisper under their mask to define that boundary they never got the courage to define visibly. 

For those with social anxiety, doing that presentation in front of their colleagues became less daunting. They didn’t panic as much, because the mask offered protection from being seen or judged. 

The limitations on travel also allowed some people peace - they secretly enjoyed the fact that they couldn’t travel back home or visit their parents at the nursing home. It is difficult to admit, but not having to see them felt like a weight off their shoulders.

Working from home also gave some people ease. They didn’t have to be around people, there was less comparison and they didn’t feel inferior. There was less opportunity to socialise, which meant they didn’t have to be anxious about what to do, or who to be in social situations. They didn’t have to pretend, or entertain others by being agreeable. 

If that’s you, I see you and I feel you.

You may have been anxious during covid, knowing it would end, and that the world would return to ‘normal’ one day. That at some point, you would have to take the mask off and become visible again.

And when the mask came off, the feeling of being unfree, powerless, anxious, exhausted, lonely, self-conscious, and maybe even self-loathing may have returned. Those parts of you that you escaped during Covid didn’t stay on hold forever, they came back. 

Perhaps the mask is a blessing not just because it concealed, but also because it revealed your true feelings. It opened a door for you to truly process all the difficult emotions that have been hindering you to live the life you deserve.

Counselling and psychotherapy can provide you an opportunity to explore why wearing a mask allowed you freedom, unravel your feelings and find ways to integrate the peace that you found during Covid into your daily life. 

May you know that you are always free. You are powerful in your own way. You are unique. You are beautiful. You are always enough.