In many online media campaigns and videos supporting different causes, we see a common consistency. One that is similar between them all...this consistency is hidden behind one phrase.
That phrase is: "I look okay, but I am really not." Now this is the phrase generalized, it is said many different ways and used more and more often every day which is not a good thing, and that is the point I want to drive home.
These people, who suffer from many different things across the board, are struggling, and I am one of them. We tend to hide our bad days behind happy faces and our struggles through smiles. If you know how hard this is, you can concur when I say to give that smile is hard...really hard, and sometimes you feel sick of putting on this show of the "fake you."
The "fake you" is a term I use to describe the instance is which someone is not okay in real time, but pretends to be so that they may not feel judged in their environment. The "fake you" is something everyday people do, not just ones who suffer from various issues, but in the scheme of things we are all trying to achieve one goal.
We want everyone to believe that we are okay, when we are not. This, my friends, is wrong.
When you are not okay...it is okay, there are days that are hard, there are times that are tough, and there are instances that seem unbearable. In these days, these times, and these instances it is okay to embrace "the real me." What I am trying to say is, if you are not alright, you don't have to put on an act, it is okay to not be okay. You can cry, and release, you don't have to pretend anymore.
You do not have to pretend because there are people to catch the "real you" when you are down. You have supporters who will be okay with the "real you," you don't have to exhaust yourself in putting out the effort to make it seem as if you have it all together.
It is okay to not have it together, most of us do not. For those people you are putting the "fake you" out for, they must not matter, because if they did you would allow yourself to fall down to the "real you" when struggles cross your path instead of the more artificial option. Someone great once said "Let it be" (John Lennon), so let it be, if you are down one day, that is okay, you do not have to pretend to be okay.
Embrace the "real you" and do not be okay for once, and maybe those stressors that made you not okay will leave you. Instead of them building up a wall behind the "fake you", let the "real you" shine.
It is okay to not be okay.
