Don't be afraid...it's just an act!

Have you ever seen someone whom you know is upset try to act like everything is OK? He has a smile on his face, but his heart isn’t smiling. He is just putting on an act. Sometimes you just want to let the person know it’s all right to “drop the act” and open up about their struggles. Of course, even more than expressing feelings of unhappiness or disappointment, it’s helpful to know that we don’t have to be swept up in negative emotions that aren’t natural to us. 

Still, it can feel easy to get “caught up” in the act. It’s like that in movies. The people on screen can pull emotions “out of a hat.” They can laugh, cry, be surprised, act brave, and do whatever the script requires of them. Of course, we all know that in the movie When Harry Met Sally, it wasn’t really Billy Crystal who fell in love with Meg Ryan. No matter how convincing the performance may seem, we know it’s just an act.

And have you ever watched a scary movie? You can get so caught up in the drama that you feel the fear, the dread, the stress welling up inside. When I watched the movie Alien that was my reaction. It was so frightening to me that I was all tied up in knots. It was as if I had stepped onto the set and become one of the actors. 

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