Todays chat meet was different for me to last week. I felt a little jaded today and felt I wanted to stand on the sidelines and watch rather than participate. I was aware of my wanting to be seen in a certain light, as an active, intelligent participant. But I didn’t feel involved. I couldn’t be just me. I wore a mask and the real tired me tried to be a virtual upbeat me. We all wear masks IRL of course and this is healthy in that we often need different aspects of self to come to the fore to cope with the demands of different roles we have in life. The “counsellor me” is different to the “parent me”.
If we wear different masks IRL then I guess we probably wear different masks on-line. I know this is true as my business mask is more “warrior-like” than my student mask. (My business is IT writing). My “helper mask” looks more accepting than how I appear when taking Telecom to task when my broadband service is down!
Masks = parts of self. If it is easier to get in touch with parts of self (identity) then are we are likely to see more of our clients parts of self during online counselling ?
Great question! Its thought provoking isn’t it? I think of self as multiplicity and masks as particular habits or styles or modes of expressivity of a life.