The other day, I was listening to “I Am Not a Robot” by Marina & the Diamonds, and it got me thinking about the metaphorical masks we wear — how we conceal our emotional scars, shaped by circumstance and experience. Too often, our feelings are ignored, buried beneath layers of pretense, as if acknowledging them is a weakness. Over the past two decades, this tendency to mask our emotions has only intensified, largely due to the rise of social media and the way Western society currently operates.
We live in a world that rewards narcissism. Not necessarily in the clinical sense, but in the way we’ve been subtly conditioned to center ourselves — our image, our validation, our desirability, above all else. Social media has reshaped our psychology, training us to compare, compete, and seek constant approval. The emphasis has shifted from us to me.And from an evolutionary perspective, our primitive brains recognize this as a survival tactic. After all, being seen, admired, and accepted once meant the difference between thriving and being cast out. In today’s digital age, this instinct has evolved into something else entirely.
One of the most pervasive modern mantras is “positive vibes only.” Many have adopted it as a philosophy, treating it as an ultimate achievement — something to maintain at all costs. But the truth is, you are not a robot. The idea that you must only experience positive emotions, and that anything outside of that is a personal failure, is both unrealistic and damaging. Like yin and yang, our minds exist in duality. Day cannot exist without night. Good cannot exist without bad. Positive emotions cannot exist without negative ones. Yet, we have been trained to reject discomfort — to see sadness, frustration, and vulnerability as flaws rather than natural human experiences.
This rejection of emotions has turned into a form of escapism. Negative feelings are treated with such disdain that we’ve become uncomfortable with expressing them — afraid that doing so contradicts the carefully curated illusion of happiness that our society glorifies. We silence ourselves to fit the mold.
I have often wished I was a robot. I’ve felt guilty for feeling too much, for expressing emotions that others found inconvenient. The lack of validation chips away at self-esteem, self-worth, and identity. I’ve asked myself what’s wrong with me? I’ve told myself I shouldn’t feel this way — as if my emotions were something to be ashamed of. But words like should and shouldn’t only exist when we feel torn between our true selves and societal expectations. Any deviation from the norm, and we’re labeled too much, abnormal,undesirable. And if you grow up in an environment where emotional expression isn’t safe, that conditioning runs even deeper.
So, we adapt. We suppress. We perform. We trade authenticity for vanity, popularity, and survival.
But you don’t have to live that way.
You don’t have to force smiles or curate a perfect, polished version of yourself just to be accepted. The first step is awareness — understanding how we’ve been conditioned and recognizing how it shapes our behavior. The second is realizing that societal norms are fluid; they evolve and shift over time. They are not absolute truths. The third is acceptance — allowing yourself to feel without judgment. You are not defective for having emotions. You are not weak for experiencing sadness, anger, or fear.
Because guess what?
You’re not a robot.
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