Do you remember watching Clark Kent jump into a phone booth and then emerge as Superman? Kal-El was Clark’s real name, but because he was an alien and thought he would not be accepted, and at risk, if he allowed others to see who he really was… He adopted an alter-ego to protect himself.
When we watch him on the silver screen we wait in anticipation for him to jump into that phone booth and emerge as his authentic self!
Bringing passion, strength, justice and intense awe to everyone that he come in contact with!
After reading a recent post by Terri Klass emphasizing the need for leaders to take off their masks, a previous co-worker came to mind.
She had been hurt many times throughout her life, so much like Kal-El, she had come to the conclusion that she needed an alter-ego to protect herself. (She just reversed the process…) Instead of jumping into the phone booth to unleash her greatest gifts she would jump into her phone booth before she came to work to cover them up. When she got to work she struggled to understand why she could not connect with her peers.
Occasionally her authentic self would break out and dance through the office. She was awe inspiring: intelligent, witty, zany, and could connect with anyone about nearly anything! In those moments when she showed up as herself, her peers did not know what to do. Which persona was real? They really liked this person, but how long would she be around before the alter-ego would return? They wanted to trust her but they didn’t.
And as they struggled to figure out how to respond, she interpreted their pause as judgment and would quickly jump back into the phone booth and emerge as her alter-ego.
On more than one occasion we talked about her struggle and about the beautiful person she really was. But it takes tremendous courage to emerge as yourself each day and in the time we worked together she was never able to completely let go of the alter-ego.
Years have past since I saw her last and I often wonder if she has ever embraced who she really is. I hope she gets to live that way while she is still on this earth. I know she will have more joy and more peace!
[Tweet “Are YOU a Clark Kent or a Superman? “]
My hope for her is the same as my hope for you… Be Yourself! Bring your superhero powers to this world! We need YOU!
Please share! Have you learned to unmask?
Below are links to two amazing resources to help you and/or those you love:
- The Power of Vulnerability by Dr. Brene Brown
- The Apple in the Orchard a story about finding the courage to emerge as a leader by Sonia DiMaulo.
Special thanks to Terri Klass for bringing this story to mind again, and to Dan Forbes for challenging me to write about it!
Image credit: Cleveland Scene
Chery, I’m happy to wrote this post. It’s a great story that deserves telling. And, a great lesson for all of us to learn.
Thank you Dan! Have a great finish to your weekend!
Chery—-how many times can I say what an “awesome” storyteller you are…your choice of descriptive and positive words always leave me with a “relate-able” feeling like I’ve “been there, done that!!!” And so it is again with this story because….I worked with you…..and I expressed (many times) some of my most personal thoughts and feelings of fearfulness to you…..and I always realized that I actively wore an “exterior” protective covering during those years because I felt I had too! BUT I believed truly that in some ways I was not alone in feeling the overwhelming need, almost always, to protect myself, to hide my true personal “light” from the powers that be… otherwise my vulnerable self would be snuffed out and completely and cease to exist. So while this story of your co-worker could possibly be about so many others “we” worked with…and in their own way they could and would “see” themselves as the subject of your memory…the “good news” for me is that these days I DO NOT see any “need” at all to fear being “me” in everything I do, every place I go and most importantly, with every person I meet. Thanks again for another truly inspirational and encouraging story!
Thank you Vera! So – the post is about how one specific person coped with pain. I love that you point out there is a little bit of each of us in this story! Perhaps we should each be given superhero capes to remind us to bring our superhero powers to the world! Imagine how much fun it would be to see adults walking around in capes! …Maybe we should declare it a new holiday?
Thank you for your post. I lived for years not being able to connect and felt like there was a secret language that I somehow was not privy to. In the last two years I have been learning to connect to myself and allow the person I truly am to shine. My journey involved searching within to find the events that shaped me and created the mask.
Only by acknowledging those events am I able to own myself and finally feel like I am me.
Learning to be an authentic leader means that I need to shed the false self that has protected me over the years. Only by being an authentic leader do I truly serve in this world.
Victoria,
Thank you for sharing your story! I agree with you that it is hard to learn to walk into pain, to stare it in the face and to learn from it. (Not my natural state either.) It takes so much more courage to do what you have done! I am so glad you are being authentically YOU and that you are shining!