DUBAI DIARIES | Our Many Faces...

Recently, a group of lovely women have inspired me to write again. Let me put things in context though, when I mean writing, I mean writing random thoughts and opinions. Let it all be taken with the humour and love in which it is intended. Life is too short to be taking everything to heart.

Our many faces...

As I was putting on make-up the other day, I was struck by the thought "what if I went to work without my make-up today?" What would people think? (This thought was in fact inspired by a beautiful lady that posted a fresh face of herself, make-up free and dancing off to work.)

In the short time I had to get dressed, my courage failed me and I went back into the routine and went out the door.

It's amazing that as we grow up, we are taught to be a certain person. A face in public, another face in school, in Church and the list goes on. At some point there is one place that we are able to truly able to take our make-up off and be our own selves. For me it was home with parents....no make-up, old warm clothes and hair tied up in whatever bun not caring if it was straight.

Soon enough though, if we are not careful the number of faces increase as life changes. A face for the in-laws, a face in another country, a face with each friends circle. It would get scary if you had to put on a face with the people closest to you...perhaps your husband or wife, a face with your own parents and anyone else you love. The truly sad part is seeing people put on a face in Church or with God not realising that the only person they are fooling is themselves.

I see a lot of people struggle with their faces when the different worlds start colliding. What face do you put on when your friends, church people, society and loved ones are put into one room? Eventually it all starts taking a toll. The funny part is these faces (usually with make-up) are nothing but putting up a small defence against the world, and with that you are actually building a wall and the world is not able to see your vulnerable, imperfect self.

The irony that I see is that the people that we tend to shun from our 'elite' circles, those that we label as rebels, drinkers, plain, not having the 'standard families' are in fact the ones that are true to themselves and to the world. They only have one face......so who's the one with the problem?

I took my make-up off at the end of the day and noted that I heaved a huge sigh of relief. It occurred to me that I may take on a journey to simplify the number of faces that I may have built over the years. It's not an easy journey and I may have adverse reactions by some people along the way (and my people-pleasing self finds that scary). It's going to be an amazing feeling though to only have to carry one and walk with a constant state of relief all the time.....