Some people use their smile as a weapon to ward off negativity or more accurately some people use their smile as a mask. You probably know someone who is always smiling and always cheerful and you may think wow they have their life made but that’s not the case. That mask is a very effective mask and it fools a lot of people.

The reason I’m thinking about this is because I was watching the film Serendipity and in the movie the character Dean Kansky has what seems to be the perfect marriage. He and his wife are happy and they laugh a lot and he makes good toasts and he helps his best friend out to find this chick he met years ago.

Then you find out that his marriage is not happy. It’s falling apart and they’ve been pretending to everyone that it’s okay.

In that moment I was shocked because even I thought they had the stereotypical good marriage example. It showed me that you really can fool people into believing everything is ok if you pretend like it is.

Recently on Instagram an acquaintance of mine talked about this as well. She was like don’t be fooled by a smiling face because it can hide the turmoil within. She was one of those people and it took one person asking how she was for her to feel better.

Ironically I’ve just finished writing a book (not a plug because it’s not published) and in it there’s a character who is like this. He’s always happy and helping other people. Then one day his brother asks him how he is and he admits that he feels empty inside and that life is not going well. I didn’t plan to write that. I didn’t plan for this character to be unhappy but after I wrote it, it just made sense and I kept it in. He got me thinking, if no one had asked what would have happened?

So to that person in your life who is like that, try asking how they are to check if their happiness is a mask or if it’s truly from within.

If you’re the person who has happiness as a mask, talk to someone, anyone! Or follow Simon and Martina on Instagram because Martina gives very good advice about building a ladder that is very helpful. I’m not the best person to help others but I thought I’d talk about this and share my thoughts and maybe this will help someone.

Anyway, until next time,

Ciao.