“Fake it until you make it”

Ever wonder just how true that statement is?Sometimes it feels like if we can pretend to be a certain way for long enough, we will start to believe it ourselves. As if we could force ourselves to feel certain (or not to feel) by acting apathetic or however other way we must act in order to give off the appearance that we are okay. I don’t know how true this is. I know I do it. And I know lots of other people do it as well.

Is our perspective of ourselves, then, merely a reflection of how others view us? If we are a certain way on the outside, is that who we really are? A major part of me wants to answer no. Because people don’t really know us. No one really knows you except yourself; that’s a given. But then why does there seem a need to appear a certain way, because we don’t want others to see us otherwise? There has to be a certain point in your life when you have to disregard whatever you’re feeling inside and not show it. Because showing everything makes all of us vulnerable and prone to worse devastation, confusion, and all of those wonderful feelings we hate to feel. But does it work? Sometimes I believe it does. Because in a significant way as well, that is how I work. Or how I think I work. But there are so many times when I surprise myself at just how worthless and ineffective the facade I put up of myself is. I go back to the same question I’ve been at for way too long. And I don’t know, it’s just frustrating. When this happens, I start to think that maybe the “fake it until you make it” actually doesn’t work. Either that, I just haven’t done it long enough. And now is the other question - just how long are we supposed to fake it until we make it? Or is it just that there are certain moments when we all relapse, because we are only human and are prone to it?

Maybe it’s just a way of dealing with obstacles we are presented in our lives. We can’t wear our hearts on our sleeves all the time; observation has shown that this usually only leads to disaster. Maybe there are just certain things we have to deal with on our own. And perhaps this way is how we come to terms with events or problems in our lives. If we didn’t fake it until we made it, lots of people would have not made it, right?

Maybe, and maybe not.