Growing up I used to hear the phrase “a cheetah never changes its spots”. This phrase would be used to explain that people do not change because you cannot change who you are. I used to think this was false and a sign of human negativity. How can you not allow another to realize their wrongs, learn from them and change? How can you not trust that a person can change?
I think as we spend time around different people we learn to adjust. What do I mean? We learn to fit in depending on the people we are around, which means you can sometimes change behaviour. You may find that you act differently when around friends compared to family. The space is different because of the types of conversations and experiences you have. This is why you sometimes find a person who is “well behaved” at home turn into a drunkard around friends. These are not two different people, it is the same person managing personality.
I will give you another example, you may find a person growing up as a very talkative person but as an adult, they become very quiet. A certain situation might have caused them to hide their personality to fit in or survive. A person grows, experiences, and learns but they do not change. Hiding your personality means hiding your feelings around people, your true opinions, and even beliefs. In simple terms, it is acting “fake”. You spend a lot of time pretending to be someone you are not.
This happens a lot to people who are in an unwelcoming work or home environment. For younger people, it can be a result of dealing with peer pressure. Teenager wants to fit into a popular group of friends, so they start acting like them to be accepted. Although this will help you feel accepted in public your alone time will not be as enjoyable. You will have to switch between your many personalities which may become exhausting.
Today I am asking you to evaluate yourself and consider if you have been masking your personality. Start paying attention to people around you and notice if they act differently around certain people or in certain circumstances. Look at someone you have known for a long time who seems to act differently around others, chances are they are hiding/masking their personality. Something to think about for sure.
