Anyone ever feel like you constantly put on an act in front of others?

Back when I worked as a cashier in retail, I felt like I had to put on a constant act in front of both customers and co workers by acting like everything was 100% okay. One time I was going through a lot of shit and I couldn't keep that act up one week, I was told by management "Rich you gotta stop, you're bringing down the moral of all your co workers". No "hey Rich what's wrong?" Nope, gotta be a robot in retail I guess.

Outside of the work place I pretty much like to be myself for the most part, but I tend to hide my constant depression because I get the "hur dur gotta work on yourself bro". Thing is, sometimes everything can be going great in that department and I still feel depressed, some people don't understand that because they don't experience things the same way.

Well, yes. That's what happens when you get punished all your childhood for being yourself. You become an adult who can't trust anyone enough to show your real personality. I didn't notice it at first when I left my parents house, but I'm really changing a lot since then. I realized how much pressure my parents were putting on me and how free I am now to be my true self.

I try to stay true to myself, for better or for worse, plus a minimum level of courtesy. It disgusts me when I read one of my own comments and doesn't sound like something I would say in reality.

When you have a career like mine, you tend to forget what it means to be yourself. "You" the person people see you as... what is it exactly? As an entertainer I have to put on an act all the time. Not a day goes by where I am not being "entertaining" Why be myself when everyone wants to see the entertaining side of me? But then again I ask myself, is there even a real "me?" Once you do something long enough, it becomes natural for you... Am I nothing more than the accumulation of personas that are for other people's enjoyment? Am I a real person with desires of my own? Or do I just act like a person when I am by myself, pretending to be real? The way I see it, however you act all comes from yourself to begin with. So what if parts of you are different depending on the circumstances? It's still you. No need to ask yourself such questions. Realize that you are you. And you like to show different sides of your personality depending on the people who you are surrounded by.

In general I can be shy or sometimes really assertive depending on the situation. Usually when i'm in a new environment i'm pretty shy, but once I get used to it i'm very assertive and can be quite talkative depending on a lot of things. Anyway, overall I sometimes can put on an act, but I always try to strive to be myself.

Depends on what you call an "act". If psychology is to believe, we are all putting on an "act" every minute of our lives, as we if left our unconscious egos unchecked all hell would break lose or something like that, or at least behave or act in a way that would be considered unacceptable. I don't necessarily buy into that, but for those who do, then yes. But I think it goes without saying, we all behave differently in front of some people than we do others as result of the different types of relationships we have with different individuals, but I'm not sure if this is an "act". As for me, I don't pretend to be someone I am not, I don't consider myself "shy", but certainly lack a drive to have endless numbers of loosely connected friends as to a smaller, but more tightly-connected circle of close friends. But again, I don't act differently here than I do in most other situations, I still tend to be more reserved, but blunt with a dark sense of humor. That is me on and offsite.