They say people put on different "masks", depending on where they're going and who they're meeting, you know? You're one "you" with your spouse, another at work, another with your friends and so on. And to an extent, I think that's beyond our control. It's just how our selves subtly rearrange themselves to better fit certain social situations. It's not always that you set out to be a different self with your spouse or your beer buddies, but that it naturally flows.

So my question initially was going to be, do you view Hive as private or public? I mean in terms of what you post here. Personally, as you can probably tell, I view Hive as immensely private. Perhaps too much so. I enjoy the community here a great deal, and in (coming up on) 8 years now, I've had one or two times only when I've thought "is this too private to post?". Mostly I just roll with whatever comes through my brain.

Maybe I should've thought that more often, huh.

Anyway, I went down that line of thought and ended up with the title question which was more intriguing to me by far, and so I started (of course) to examine myself. What version of "me" do I present to the blockchain, and how far is it from what I perceive as my "core" self?


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I think I make myself braver on here sometimes than I actually am. It's not that I write things with more authority or knowledge than in real life. If anything, it's perhaps the other way around. In my real life, I often find I drown myself out, or dumb myself down (thinking it's smart, as a much loved man once sang). But here, in writing, I find I get to express myself truthfully and unencumbered by what I think the other expects me to be. Because here, I know no two readers will have the same impression of me anyhow, so it'd be pointless to try to mould myself to each.

But I think I make myself out to be more brave than I actually am, more headstrong and steadfast. Closer to my ideals and less betrayed by my whims, by my own white heart.

Let's see. What else. I've been thinking about this question a bit, and I try to spot ways in which I'm being disingenuous on here, except that's not really been the case. If anything, I find I'm more on Hive, that I'm closer to the self I would like to be, to the good parts of myself, bold and clever, full of love and surrounded by good, interesting people. I speak much closer to her on Hive than I might in other social interactions.

So writing this, my Hive "mask" feels closer to my "true" self than many of my other social masks.

Then again, it has been an awfully long time. My entire adult life has been on Hive and I know I'm not alone in that, though I think it's a fair question how much of that has shaped what my "true" self looks like. Through many changes, both on a personal and a planetary level, Hive has been a constant to come back to. Without a doubt, who I am here has shaped who I want to be as I go. We're constantly being shaped by the things and people we pour our love and energy into.

And I know some of you on here are raising your kids on Hive as well. There's these small kids posting on Hive and that's fantastic. Obviously. But I do wonder how and to what extent that will shape who *they* want to be and grow up to be in the future. Because they've been growing up cultivating this Hive "mask" (which maybe isn't so different from their true selves anyway, or maybe they're just beginning to contemplate *how* they present themselves to the world at large) alongside their own growth and development. Sure be interesting to see where this all goes, won't it?

*What about working in reverse? Has Hive shaped who you are in the outside world?* For sure. I've gotten so much courage from here, and it's just always been this sort of space for trying out new things artistically. Writing styles and bad self portraits. And inevitably, that helps you grow and change as you go.

### So what about you? Do you reckon you've got a Hive "mask"? Do you put on a face to meet the blockchain, and how much of yourself do you reveal on here? How much of yourself are you still keeping hidden somewhere?

##### And where can I see it? :P


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