What makes people hide their identities?

1., Fear of being judged as a motivator to hide our true identities

People may hide their true identities because they are afraid that others will judge them. This is possible, but we cannot live in fear all the time. Fear is a bad advisor and still people hide their identities due to immense fear.

2., Stigma

There is a lot of stigma around sexual orientation, gender, religion, race, mental illness etc. It is normal, that we try to protect ourselves from being stigmatized, but hiding our true selves is not helpful in the long run. Don’t hide who you really are, your true self!

Read more on authenticity

3., Losing their job, or social support

Some people may even lose their jobs because their identity is not compatible with the organization they were working for. This is very sad, and unfortunate, that people may be forced to choose between their identities and their job.

What may be more frightening is the immense fear of losing the support of our loved ones. This fear can be very alerting, due to the high stakes of losing our closest supporters. Therefore someone may hide their identities to ensure that their support system will stay.

Read more on the importance of social support

“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness.”

― Elyn R. Saks

4., Lack of confidence or self-knowledge

Some people hide their identities because they are not confident about their lovability. They may suffer from low self-esteem, or just simply lack social support.

A lack of self-knowledge can make it difficult to see reality clearly.

What do you think? Do you think, that hiding our identities can be beneficial for us? Let m know!