Being fully you, for at least one day

Sometimes I feel like a chameleon. Do you know what I mean?

Over the course of a work week, I probably turn into 10 versions of myself. In the morning, I am the mom getting her kids fed, washed and dressed. Shortly thereafter, I am either the small business employee or the freelance writer. I must shift quickly from diaper bags to digital marketing, or from brushing little teeth to inhabiting the minds of characters in my plays. Depending on how much sleep or caffeine I’ve gotten to that point, the transition can be as disorienting as a rickety rollercoaster ride.

By dinnertime, I wear both the mom and wife hats and sometimes even squeeze the healthy exerciser hat on too. If it’s a special weeknight, I am the grateful daughter as we drop the kids off with their grandparents, and then the social butterfly enjoying a dinner, a show or a creative get-together. By the weekend, I am the busy bee doing chores or projects I’d put off, and the reflective spirit come Sunday morning. I am often the exhausted person too, but I don’t have time to wear that hat.

You know that moment when you’re supposed to morph into a different version of yourself but you can’t get unstuck from the current one? You get to work, but you’re still daydreaming about that idea you brainstormed the night before. You show up at a dinner party, but you can’t stop thinking about whether the kids are in bed yet.

How about when someone who usually knows you as one version of yourself sees you in another skin? That can be really disorienting.

Catching the eye of your boss at the gym one morning, you both look the other way lest you acknowledge that you are facing each other in sweaty t-shirts when you are used to seeing each other in a boardroom. Or calling your husband the pet name for your kid by accident, because you only just got that kid down for the night.

Worst might be seeing your college professor at the bar. Actually, I’ve only been the professor in that scenario. It’s pretty awkward, but from the look on my student’s face he had it worse.

On this April Fools Day, I challenge all of us with chameleon tendencies to go multi-colored and act a fool! For one day, forget the transitions and the posturing. Just keep it 100! Be fully you in every instance and do not apologize for it.

If you see your boss at the gym this morning, chest bump her! If you need to play a little electropop at the office, crank it up! Bring your kids in on the household project! Start reciting your creative writing at the dinner party! Tell your student to get out of the bar and do his homework!

Let’s let it all hang out just for today. And if anyone gives us the side eye, hold up the calendar.

This story was originally published March 30, 2016 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Being fully you, for at least one day."