The Real You

So I just listened to this song, "Breathe Me" by Sia.  Have you heard it?  I found it to be beautiful and sad, artful and filled with emotion.  But most of all, I found it to be real.

This song is vulnerable, honest, and authentic.  She seems to be crying out for help.  I love it when an artist is able to identify with their own pain and struggle.  And here's the thing ... there's something about this that we all feel and know and can relate to.  Whether or not it's this song, a scene from a particular movie, a passage of your favorite book, or something else, we know it's there - something beneath the surface.  Something truer than we're comfortable exploring.  It is so important that we come to a place of genuine self-awareness. 

But let's be honest: this isn't fun.  This isn't relaxing.  Many of us are afraid of what we will find if we spend too much time looking inwardly.  So instead, we'd rather hide behind a busy schedule, a hobby, and our addiction to Facebook ... anything that will suppress the truth of who we really are or at least numb the pain for a few more moments.  Some get lost in video games.  Others with the party scene.  Still others with a career path or a relationship.  Heaven forbid we actually spend any substantial amount of time having a quality conversation about something real.

We are afraid of what others will think.  Too much risk is involved.  Maybe they'll let us down or worse.  So instead, we put up our guard and build our castles.  But what do we do with our unanswered questions?  What about the pain?  That inward sadness?

In the song, the girl seems to surface just long enough to get a few words out before diving back into the abyss of her false-self (the person that everyone knows her to be).  But how long can she hold her breath?  After all, we can only go so long without breathing and one thing's for certain ... it will kill us all to live a disingenuous life.

It will always be easier to lie about who we are and how we're doing than to be real with ourselves and others.