Is life a costume party?
Let's find out together
Franz Kafka
“I was ashamed of myself when I realized that life was a costume party, and I attended with my real face.”
This quote came across, and I wondered, “Why does this have to be so sentimental and touchy? For me, it can be seen from two perspectives.
First, it raises the question of why this is the case. Why are we afraid to embrace our real selves? Those who focus on being real (what is the definition of “real” self?). Moreover, Who is the problem maker — me, you, or the people around us?
Have we ever inspected that if someone is behaving in a particular way, it may not be society but themselves stifling them with orthodox standards, not every time dictated by others. The problem is that we are still children and like to play our favorite blame game. We don’t want to dive in and untangle the ropes of expectations.
Besides that, I think personas are necessary for living in diverse societies and cultures. Our personalities get shaped by discourse, which in turn, people determine. On different occasions, we need different aspects of our personalities to be on display. So, it’s not wrong to have different outfits for it.