What is the real world?

I recently spent 3 weeks in an intensive depression treatment program.  It was a place where we could honestly express our feelings. We didn't have to wear our masks.

Then I came home and I don't want to put the mask back on.  Someone wise told me that my time in treatment was more 'real world' than home.  God didn't design us to always be on guard. to wear masks. to act in ways we think certain situations want us to act.  God wants us to be real. honest. to feel and react and process and live life.

In high school and college, I went on many retreats.  The time on the retreat was always joyful and uplifting.  You return feeling like you could own the world.  Like you really understood God and your relationship with him.  Then life sets in and all those feelings fade.  The world invades again.

Those times where we don't have to be on guard. Where we are truly joyful. Where we don't wear masks and people accept us as we are - That is the real world.