Aren't You Tired of Pretending You're Okay?
There are certain stages in our lives in which pretending in order to be socially accepted just doesn’t make sense any more. Smiling when we don’t feel like it, trying to make everyone like you and worrying about being perfect is actually exhausting and exasperating.
Everything is not always okay and things aren’t always the way we’d like them to be. But it seems we’re obligated to be happy, jolly and tolerant people all the time. Pretending is painful. It’s time we realize it.
“I’ll no longer tolerate certain things. Not because I’ve become arrogant. Simply because I’ve reached a point in my life where I no longer want to waste time with things I don’t like or ones that hurt me.
I don’t have patience for cynicism, excessive criticism and demands on any nature. I’ve lost the will to make people whom I don’t like like me. To love who doesn’t love me and smile at those who don’t want to smile at me.
I’ll no longer spend a single minute on people who lie to me or want to manipulate me. I’ve decided to not coexist with pretension, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cheap compliments. I don’t tolerate selective erudition and academic arrogance.
I’ll no longer blend with the crowd or the riffraff. I don’t tolerate conflicts or comparisons. I believe in a diverse world, and that’s why I avoid people with a rigid and inflexible character.
I dislike betrayal and a lack of loyalty in friendships. I really don’t get along with people who don’t know how to praise or encourage. Exaggerations bore me. I have difficulty accepting people who don’t like animals. And above all, I no longer have patience for anyone who doesn’t deserve it…”
-Meryl Streep-
Stop faking a smile
We’re always pretending everything is okay even when it’s really not. When really we have no reason to always be happy and content. There are complicated circumstances that require negative emotions like sadness and anger.
The fact that they’re negative doesn’t mean they’re not healthy. I mean, isn’t it normal to feel sad when you’re heartbroken or when a family member is ill?
There is nothing more painful than pretending to be okay when something is hurting us on the inside. This ends up turning against us. We end up in a downward spiral that absorbs us and takes a tight hold on our soul.
Did you know that eight out of ten people who are sad pretend that they’re okay?
Our emotions end up turning in on ourselves. They end up wrinkled and full of prejudice. We don’t realize that they’re poisoning us and making us feel weak. Because we’re not only pretending for everyone else, we’re also pretending to be okay to the mirror.
