Shari B. Kaplan, LCSWIntegrative Mental Health

Pride Month: The Cost of Masking and the Power of Being Seen

8 Jun 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:02

In this reflective video for Pride Month, Shari B. Kaplan, LCSW, addresses LGBTQ individuals who are "masking"—concealing their authentic selves—as a survival strategy that exhausts the nervous system. She explains how chronic masking keeps the body's alarm system in a constant state of activation, leading to physiological and emotional fatigue. Kaplan emphasizes that Pride Month should go beyond visibility celebrations; it should grant people permission to let down their masks, release built‑up pressure, and breathe freely. She calls for a collective commitment to safety, wholeness, and authenticity, urging listeners to treat one another with kindness, love, and respect as a shared responsibility.

Chapters

To anyone who is masking who they are today, your nervous system is exhausted. Few things are more exhausting to your nervous system than pretending to be someone you're not. For the LGBTQ community, masking isn't just a social habit, it's often been a way of survival. Living in survival mode keeps your body's internal alarm system permanently stuck in the on position. Pride Month isn't just about celebrating that you can be seen. It's about giving your body permission to drop the mask, release the pressure, and finally breathe. This Pride Month, we aren't just celebrating visibility. We are advocating for your right to feel safe, whole, and fully alive in your own skin. Perhaps we need to take a deeper dive into realizing that love is loving. And it's our responsibility to treat each other with kindness, love, and respect.