Living A Lie

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.”
-Lao Tzu

Greetings folks. Last week’s post (Death of a Superhero 8/15/12) was one of my most personal to date. I don’t recall being that transparent with you since my earlier posts. I’ve also realized that it’s one of my darker posts. It’s where I was at the time, how I felt and I won’t apologize for my feelings. “There mine and you’ll never get a hold of them.” ($5 to the person who can tell me what song this references).

As I begin to write the lead-in to last week’s post I saw that it was too long. I saw that what I had actually written was the beginning of another post—this one, which is a follow-up to last week’s post. I don’t typically (ever) write posts in series format, but I do write what comes to me and this is it.

There comes a time when we all have to embrace the truth we never knew existed. For some that may be the true story about an absent parent, for others it may be the existence of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. For me it was the death of my alter ego Superman. Think back to that time when you first found out that despite the stories your family told you that your dad isn’t Satan incarnate. Remember when you first found out that Santa Claus was really some fat guy who took pictures in the mall? Think back to that moment when you saw Spongebob take his head off at that birthday party and you realized that he really doesn’t live in a pineapple under the sea. Hell, he isn’t even a real sponge! Those were hard pills to swallow weren’t they? But why?

Coming face to face with a false reality is like Neo finding out about the Matrix. It’s tough because no one likes being lied to, no one enjoys not knowing and because we realized that we’ve been living in the dark. Yet, knowing this, it’s hard to release that false reality. Live in the dark long enough and your eyes adjust making it difficult for you to handle sunlight. We’ve lived in the false reality so long that we’ve grown comfortable living there and the lie we govern our life by is gospel. However, like Neo, when confronted with the existence of the Matrix we have a choice. We can take the red pill and continue to be rats trapped in a maze, content with our daily existence. Or we can take the blue pill and challenge and confront everything that we’ve been taught.

Realizing that I’m not a superhero has been a tough adjustment. I’ve been told my whole life that I’m special, that I’m different and better than most, which was reinforced by the awards, the accolades, accomplishments and my ego. I wasn’t human. I was superhuman. To wake up one day and realize that you aren’t invincible, that you aren’t the fastest guy on the planet, that you aren’t the smartest person in the room, that you aren’t perfect when you’ve been taught these things as gospel is a frightening discovery.

Initially I did what most people do, I denied it. I hid from it. I continued to put on my cape and tights and go about trying to save the world not realizing that every time I left the house and took on more than I should without a vest, superhuman strength, or invincibility I was endangering my life. Carrying the burdens of others was beginning to hurt so much because I’m not a superhero and as bad I want to be one, I’m not.

Many of us lie to ourselves on a daily basis. Some of your lies may not be as bad as mine some may be worse. Some of you tell yourself everyday that you’re perfectly healthy and you’re morbidly obese, suffering from hypertension and diabetes. Some of you tell yourself that you’re God’s gift to mankind when inside you’re as black as midnight. Some of you tell yourself that you’re going to heaven when you haven’t been to church since Mother’s Day, said a prayer since breakfast or opened your bible since you were looking for the money you stuffed in it.

I’m not judging or condemning you, I have problems of my own to deal with. I’m encouraging you to stop living the lie. The lie we live makes it hard to see, hard to breathe, hard to live. When you aren’t comfortable with you, in your own skin, in your own shoes, how can anyone else be? How can you ever truly be happy? The lies are a barrier to success, to true love and happiness. Level with yourself. Confront your lies and your demons. Deal with them and move forward.

In closing I leave you with this, Mahatma Gandhi once said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.” If you’re living a lie what does that make you and what does that say about your life? Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!