Do you wear glasses to look older, because people at work think you’re a child?
We’re often warned not to pretend. Be authentic. Be yourself. All good advice—until it quietly stops you from growing. Becoming who you pretend to be is a brave path through fear and self-doubt. One day the costume slips away, and you discover it was you all along—just further down the road.
Pretending doesn’t mean lying if you are framing the narrative correctly. Be mysterious and it can be fully justifiable,. giving you room to learn and practice. This is because even those who are experts are often times need to learn on the fly. If it was as easy as memorization, they don’t need you nor the expert; that’s a job for a super computer!
Behaving like a calm, prepared, and humble (but confident) person gives your brain a rehearsal it wouldn’t get otherwise. You show up with your fullest. You make choices without self-sabotage. You may have imposter syndrome to start, but if you truly want to make it in life, that’s just the cost of learning fast. Over time, the act stops feeling like an act.
Psychologists call this identity-based behavior: when you behave like the person you want to become, your habits start aligning with that version of you. Confidence follows action, not the other way around.
Be like these Bunny Bears and put on a brave face anyway. Everything will work out as it should!
