Life will provide numerous situations where hiding who you really are may seem like the best path. Maybe you have traits that others do not like. Maybe you have a perspective or desire that you know will be unfavorable to people who you care about or who you want something from. Be yourself anyway.
It is always in the best interest of all to be who you really are. If you are true on the outside to how you are on the inside, you will always be a better person than you are when you are pretending to be someone different than who you really are.
If you are less-than-ideal in some way, don’t hide it. When you place yourself in situations that are beyond your ability to contend with, you not only guarantee eventual defeat, you also guarantee unnecessary suffering along the way. If you have faults that you aren’t willing or able to fix, don’t hide them. It’s better to show others the parts of yourself that are difficult to accept up front. It saves you and them from subsequent unpleasant experiences as they have to deal with being lied to and you have to deal with them rejecting a more clear version of who you really are.
Be yourself. If you don’t like what that gets you, change who you are. If you are antisocial, be antisocial all the time. Don’t try to be artificially outgoing when meeting new people. If you are lazy, be lazy all the time. Don’t deceitfully pretend to be diligent only when someone is watching. If you are sloppy, be sloppy all the time. Don’t clean the house extra before friends or family come over. Don’t pretend you are someone else to get gain you don’t, by definition, deserve. If you want better outcomes, the only enduring way to obtain them is to actually change who you are. If you do not like who you are, the solution is to change who you are, not to pretend you are something you aren’t. The cost of change is reduced by honestly admitting the cost of staying the same. Through consistently living your character qualities, you will accrue sufficient reason to change.