Remove The Mask, Show The World Who You Really Are

I lied to everyone when I dropped out of college. My friends would text me and I wouldn’t reply. I went into hiding.

Someone from India called my friend yesterday and told him there was a virus on his computer. And only he could fix it, but he had to take control of his computer first.

I was in San Francisco a few months ago and a shuttle picked me up to take me to my hotel. My company had already paid in advance. When I got off, the driver told me I still had to give him a tip. Even though the tip was already included.

I went to the doctor and he prescribed me two types of medicine. “Why so many?” I said. “Just to be sure.”

My friend told me he was making so much money it was crazy. Even though I had run into his mom the other day and she told me he had just been fired.

We’re all scared.

We’re all part of the year-long Halloween Ball where we lie to each other to help us get by. You’re invited as well.

We all have our own costume. Our own mask. Each of us does our own dance. One, two, three, turn.

We hope our masks won’t fall off. We hope they’ll stay on for as long as possible so that we can sleep at night. So that people can like us. So that our anxiety goes away.

We hope our words come out ever so carefully as to not give ourselves away. We hope our words dip into our soul. Let them sit there and marinate.

It’s hard to leave the Ball. Hard to see the exit. But if we focus on creating value instead of trying to squeeze the last penny or emotion out of people then we can see an opening.

We’re all sluts at the Halloween Ball. But for today, let’s take our masks off. Be honest. Create value.

Hi, I’m Efrain. What’s your name?