Are you ever disappointed in yourself? Maybe you have,in some way, ACTED BENEATH YOURSELF?  I hate acting beneath myself. But, guess what? I have bad days...occasionally a bad week. I could blame it on someone else I guess....but I know better. And I TOTALLY HATE IT WHEN I HURT OTHERS. That is the worst!
OK...just being honest.

Honest? Wait! I can't afford to be honest!! Some people have a pretty good opinion of me!! If I am honest I might mess it up!! OK...I have a better idea...I can try to be TWO people!! I can be a "pretend self" which exists to hide something about me I do not really want anyone to know! The pretend self exists to conceal aspects of ourselves that we feel we want to protect or hide. It is like a "costume" you wear so you are in control of your external image.  At times we feel we must "keep hidden" something about ourselves we fear to let be known. Like what you ask?  Well, for example some people over-emphasize their physical self by trying to be super handsome or pretty in order to hide some level of inadequacy they feel underneath.  If others can "see" something external that is good...they won't dig deeper hopefully.
Or we may try to achieve awards or important positions...or be smarter than others..superior in some way. Well, hopefully you get the idea...we may be trying to use something EXTERNAL to cover up something that we feel we must conceal in ourselves.

Do not get me wrong....the EXTERNAL ACHIEVEMENTS that I just mentioned can all be very properly motivated and I am NOT saying anyone who has achieved something external that is outstanding is really "hiding something"...or secretly feels inadequate!!! Not at all.
But it is fairly common to see that some of us "hide out" in the way I just described...using the OUTSIDE to cover up what is inside. 
Inadequacy is a fascinating human condition.  I think we all feel it and some of us fear it. But as I have gotten older I have realized...it is 100% OK to feel inadequate.  I think everyone feels inadequate at times.  Don't you?  I grew up feeling very inadequate..and it even carried into my adult life.  I don't worry about it so much anymore...and I am much more comfortable with others knowing that I come up short on things that are important to me.  I wish I were better...often I feel I should be better.  But I am not. And it took me many years to be able to say..."to feel that way...even at my age...is OK."  When we are humble enough to acknowledge our fears and inadequacies...that is when we will be comfortable in our own skin.

But I think investing in our own improvement and growth is way better than hiding beneath something we have created in order to  fool everyone and keep them from knowing we have weaknesses and inadequacies..........I am pretty sure the group of people in the world who have the lowest blood pressure and are less stressed are those who are MEMBERS OF THE CLUB WHOSE MEMBERS ADMIT TO EACH OTHER THEY DO NOT HAVE EVERYTHING FIGURED OUT AND ARE A LITTLE FEARFUL OF HAVING OTHERS DISCOVER THAT FACT...........

I like this thought:  "Goodness is richer than greatness.  It consists not in the outward things we do, but in the inward things we are."   Edwin Hubbel Chapin

I think the "outward things we do" are more important than maybe Mr. Chapin thinks they are......BUT people pretty quickly forget our achievements or the "outward things we do or have done"...but the INWARD THINGS WE ARE....are always there..they do not go away..and for each of us are like the stars on a clear night......

Have a nice day. Oh, by the way..you can disagree with me on anything I write. I just like to offer something now and then that helps us all to think about our lives.  Jim