(UN)Healthy Living…Part 3!

You know…when I think about all the different ways that we as people are killing ourselves, I get so amazed. Some of it is SO easy to avoid. And yet, I find myself doing some of the things that I KNOW I shouldn’t.

I could make a list and just put it here, but that’s of absolutely NO help. I know this, because lists rarely help me to make any sort of progress in self improvement. :-)

So what should we talk about today??

Uncontrolled emotions? Procrastination? Pride?

Or maybe our skills as actors? :-)

Yea…let’s do THAT one…

“All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,”
– As You Like It - Shakespeare

It’s probably one of the most commonly used clichés in the world. And one that is, unfortunately, very true today. How many different parts do YOU play in any given day? And more importantly, how often do you get to simply play yourself?

I’d be willing to bet that, with a few exclusions, most people play their parts all day long, every day. We play the expected roles of sons, daughters, husbands, wives, friends, lovers, workers, bosses, etc. Some of these roles accepted, while others are forced. And through them all, we are expected to be the best at all times, in every role.

You’ve seen the people that get completely caught up in this. They can’t get out of a certain role, even when it’s not required of them. They are the BOSS, even at home and with their loved ones. These are the people that become SO consumed with the role they are playing that they lose sight of the person playing the role.

How often we slip into that mindset sometimes. We WANT to be the best, of course, and so we push and strive and work for what is expected of us.

But tell me…who is pushing you to play the role of just you? Anyone?

Often we find that the role of self is pushed WAY into the background. Sometimes we even lose sight of it completely.

Want to know something? We CAN be playing every part expected of us…AND still be ourselves. It takes a bit more work, and you have to realize that you might not hit all the expectations for your other roles, but your performance in them will be far more honest.

See that’s the problem with playing all the roles that we play. Oftentimes we play them independent of each other and try to become what is expected of us in each. Then we run the very real risk of disassociating our inner core from the roles we play. That causes an internal conflict that in turn, causes major stress. We start to see our roles as separate entities, hats if you like :-), and each different hat brings out different emotions, stresses, behaviors, etc. It’s almost like massive personality disorders. :-)

It’s difficult to pull all your roles together and mash them into a single performance. But it’s possible, and really, even necessary that we do. We need to live as ourselves, from our inner core and our heart, and let the other roles settle around us, like coats or clothing. Layers that we can take on or off, but which take their shape from what’s underneath.

In the words of a rather green sage…”We’re like onions. We have layers.” :-)