Your mask becomes you

Happy with a smile. Sad with a gloomy face.

Smile often and you’ll feel happier. Make a sad face for long enough and you’ll feel depressed.

Our emotions show on our faces. And the faces we show the world affect our moods.

It also goes much deeper than emotions…

We become the personas we take on. We eventually believe the stories we tell ourselves and others about who we are.

Make the world believe that you’re an entrepreneur. Read the books, use the right words and tell yourself the correct stories and you’ll eventually become like one. Get lucky once or twice, and you’ll be one.

Tell yourself you’re an athlete. Dress like an athlete. Talk like an athlete. Live the lifestyle. Train daily, build a system and, with lucky genetics, you may become an athlete.

Act like a couch potato. Drink too much, smoke and eat poorly. Tell yourself and others that you have no energy. And guess what?

We become our masks.

What masks are you wearing?

“You see, there’s a fundamental connection between seeming and being. Every Fae child knows this, but you mortals never seem to see. We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.” Chronicler relaxed a bit, sensing familiar ground. “That’s basic psychology. You dress a beggar in fine clothes, people treat him like a noble, and he lives up to their expectations.” “That’s only the smallest piece of it,” Bast said. “The truth is deeper than that. It’s . . .” Bast floundered for a moment. “It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”
~ From The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss