Does "Constant Character" mean "Seldom Self?"

I was looking through some pictures of myself, and realized that it's a little hard to see who my self is in them! I wonder to myself: does being a constant character mean seldom being myself? This thought definitely sent me into a confusing bout of self confusion, self consciousness, self bewilderment. Is there something I'm trying to hide?

When thinking about this, I realized that when I sing I don't sing like myself very often, either. I'm always pretending to be Michael Buble, Norah Jones, Hayley Sales, but never pretending to be myself. I tried to sing like myself and it didn't sound terrible. Why don't I want to sing like that?

Maybe it's because the other voices I imitate have already been validated, I know that people like them, thus they are good. Whereas with my voice I really don't have a clue what people think, and then to top it all off, why I care what people think at all. It's a vicious circle that's got my head in a loop of self loathing and far-too-careful inspection.

But then, just when I start to feel really down on myself about my absurd whimsy, an epiphany hits me square in the temple; Maybe my character is character. Maybe that's who I am, perhaps I'm a collage of all the greatest things in others, in the world, in life. What's so wrong with that? Who always wants to be the same anyway? Maybe more people should become characters. Because truly and honestly there are little things in the world that I love more than to strike a pose, roll my eyes back in a ridiculous way, and make a noise nobody's ever heard before as a march about the room, reciting lines from some Groucho Marx clip. That's probably the most fun thing I have in my life. Another would definitely be dancing around to the "Hairspray" soundtrack, dramatic arm gestures and lipsyncing all the way, digging my toe into the floor and doing the twist like there's no tomorrow.

Maybe what the world needs is more silliness, less serious people waltzing about like they own the place. Maybe in my own little way I'm desperately trying to return a little character to the world. It's not like I'm pretending to not-be-myself. I'm adding to myself. Not changing myself, but making myself something even more, even greater.

And that's when I can finally look at the pictures and smile.
Being a constant character does absolutely not mean seldom self, but the truest self! In all of us. To be a moving story, a living movie, a three dimensional cartoon, has become one of the greatest parts of my life. To mirror the greatest things in life, now that's an honour even I feel I may not completely deserve.

So I inspire you: don't settle for being only one thing, when you can be everything! You don't have to express yourself as rambunctiously as I do, but there are so many other ways to be dynamic and diverse. Be a painter AND a piano player, AND have a knack for electronics, and enjoy a box of turtles more than life itself, and dance to an obscure eightees track, AND be terrible at keeping plants alive, AND make the greatest cookies on your entire street.

What a character that would be.