Good morning friends. Many of you read this blog because we are friends. You know me. I know you. You read for inspiration, and a dose of whit and reality. I hope you read to grow. I pray that today’s blog allows to do ALL of these things.

Masking. Definition: ‘the conscious or unconscious act of hiding one’s true self”. I mask/have masked quite a bit of pain. I’ve hid it. From you, my friends, my family, and from myself. There, I said it(exhale).

Masking pain and hurt has come a bit natural for me. I WANT to be strong. I WANT to be positive and cheerful. I WANT to be enthusiastic and helpful. I WANT to be accommodating. There, that last one: accommodating. That’s me. I’m the type of person that wants you to like me. I don’t like it when you’re upset with me or, I feel like I’ve done something wrong. So, you ask me how I’m doing and my accommodative response will always be: “great!” “Fine”, “things are going well” or, the one we all use, “good.”

I do not mean to step on your toes here. Please understand that I am merely pointing out what I think a lot of us do” mask our pain. We all need to heal, and part of that healing process-in my opinion-is being honest with the man/woman in the mirror. I’ve worked really hard on this for the last few years. There has been a lot of pain that I’ve hidden. Poor judgment, on my part, of a past business partner; difficult relationships with children; 3 major surgeries in a 5 year span. This just names a few times on the list. How did I mask the pain? I told myself(and you) that things were “great” that I was doing fine. I wasn’t, totally. Ahh, that’s it! That IS the answer: totally. See, i had to face that man in the mirror and be honest with him. I also, more importantly, had to be honest with HIM.

Over the past 3 years I’ve grown tremendously in my faith. It is stronger than it has ever been. I’ve done a lot of praying. A lot of one-on-one conversations with God. I’ve poured out my heart and soul to Him. HE listens(thank you, Jesus). I’ve done a lot of writing, here in this blog and in my journal. I’ve been honest with myself and confided in others when I am not “ok”. Oh, it IS OK to say you’re NOT ok. I recently was texting with a close friend and told him I’d been struggling lately with a few things. Hiding some hurt. Lo and behold, he told me he had been going through some difficult issues as well. We all hurt form time to time. That ok. Life is full of ups and downs. Just don’t mask it. Don’t try to gut it out… by yourself. talk to a close friend. your spouse. Your pastor. God. I love you. ❤️

Be well,

Jeff