To Be Or Not To Be Yourself

I had started to write about one thing and as it turns out, that must not be where my mind wanted to go because I kept stumbling about what should be said next. Perhaps it is just because I have yet to have my first cup of tea and that my eyes are still heavy and my brain a bit foggy from sleep. Whatever the reason is, the post that was going to be was obviously not meant to be...not today anyway. Today I am thinking about duality. How many people out there are not completely the person they really are? How many of us have this other side of who we are that for one reason or another can't or won't show itself to the world? I know that I have such a side and that for the time being anyway, that side rarely gets to come out and play.  I think everyone has these hidden sides to one degree or another. The person you are in a relationship was no doubt all sweet and trying to impress when you first met and now has sunk into this place of complacency where the trying to impress has been replaced with just trying to stay content. I am sure the trauma surgeon is not always thinking on their feet, making quick decision that alter the life of  the people they come in contact with and I am also sure that the court judge does not always sit there and judge everyone either. Everyone, I think, has an off and on switch, a time where they are one person and then another when their job or lives in general demand they be something else. My question is, how is one really suppose to know themselves, find themselves, discover themselves, when they can't just be themselves 24/7/365? It almost seems unfair to be handed such expectations but we get it from everyone all the time....just be yourself and everything will be ok. What if being yourself is not a good thing? Do we really want the mass murderer, or the serial rapist to be themselves? No..we want them to control those impulses, silence that part of their personalities.  In the end, although we tell people to be themselves, I am not sure the world really wants us to be. I think it wants us to be whatever it decides we should be for it's convenience and benefit.