In movies, comic books, television shows, and things of the like, superheroes are always depicted as people covering their true identity behind a mask of some sort.

However, hiding who you really are behind a mask--whether it is literal or metaphorical--is not something anyone in the real world should desire to do.

Here are some reasons why:

1. You will never be able to have a genuine relationship with anyone.
How can someone actually get to know you if you're hiding who you really are?

2. It adds more stress to an already seemingly overbearing life.
You already have all of these tasks and obligations you have to do for work, school, or the like. You are busy hiding some issue, some problem, or your true self from others. To top it all off, you are overwhelmed with worry that someone is going to see whatever it is you're hiding. Wouldn't it just be easier to not hide at all?

3. It causes trust issues.
If you're hiding who you truly are, you are essentially saying that another person cannot be trusted with your secret identity. Ouch.

4. It forces you to be a liar.
This ties into number 3. That other person may trust you completely, but you have to live with the knowledge that you are lying to them every day about who you are.

5. You will never be able to face the problems that you're hiding.
People with masks often times have this "if I can't see it, then it isn't there" mentality; however, that is not the case. Just because you ignore the elephant in the room doesn't mean that there isn't a massive, 5-ton elephant staring at you from the corner.

6. You will alwaysfeel like you're alone.
If you never open up to anyone, you will always believe the lie that no one is there for you and that no one understands you. This lie will always make you feel isolated and alone.

7. You can never hide forever.
No matter how fast or how far you run, your lies will always catch up to you. No matter how dark the night is, the light of the morning will always reveal everything that has been hidden in that darkness.

8. It makes people view you as unapproachable.
No one wants to open up to someone they feel has everything all together. One of the beautiful things about life is that humans have the ability to relate to one another. Wearing a mask and pretending you're perfect and have everything all together prevents you from being relatable.

9. It will always leave you in a worse state than you originally started.
You may have started out with a molehill of a problem; however, when you try to bury that problem with lies, lies, and more lies, eventually that molehill will become a mountain.

10. You will always be running from and never facing your problems.
It's just like a soldier running from battle. Just because he turned around and ran doesn't mean that the battle isn't still going on--that war is being fought and another battle is just around the corner. Face the issue head on. Fight and don't run. Running wears you out, but fighting conquers the adversary.

11. The mask is just a lie.
God sees your true identity and knows exactly who you are behind the mask. You can never truly hide. But God sent Christ to die for you in the state that you are in right now--not the state that you want people to believe.

"While we were still helpless [powerless to provide for our salvation], at the right time Christ died [as a substitute] for the ungodly. Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to willingly give his life even for an upright man, though perhaps for a good man [one who is noble and selfless and worthy] someone might even dare to die. But God clearly shows and proves His own love for us, by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 5:6-8 AMP

The reason we know so much about masking identity is because we both lived underneath a mask for ages. You can read both of our stories here:
The stories behind the masks:
Amber Oglesby
Brittany Corbitt