the dilemma of opening up

[coraljune]

I've been told that I don't get very personal (very often) in here. When I do, I usually keep it vague enough to be factually useless despite the emotional TMI. I tend to write about things that happen in my life or in the world, I post memes, or I ask questions of my readers to get away with not actually having to say anything. Some of my posts

Comments

[garbo77]

I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes I'll post something personal and then delete it because it's just too 'out there' for me. I wish I could be a bit more personal, but I like to stick with funny things or movie/celebrity things because my journal is more about the stuff I find annoying or interesting - not really about my personal life.

Not to mention all these people started telling me they were reading it - people I didn't really WANT to read it - so that hindered the personal things even more. I had to worry about who I mentioned and how I mentioned them, and the whole thing got too stressful. I sort of envy people brave enough to put their really personal stuff out there, but for me it just feels self-indulgent and embarrassing. I'm not going to write about my relationships or my family crap - I don't have the stomach for it. I'd rather keep it a bit more removed. It just comes down to your own comfort level I guess.

Besides, I think we're ALL dysfuntional in some way. No one expects anything you don't want to give them.

[coraljune]

Gah! I know! Every now and then you'll refer to your having changed your mind about an entry you'd written - a "I deleted that last post..." or something - and I'll wish I had been refreshing my friends page at just the right moment to catch it. But I understand; I've done the same thing. I would love to read more about your life though, or some of those personal things that you reconsider and delete. Have you thought about using the friends-only or custom filter options? That gets around the problem of not knowing who is reading - a question that I wonder about fairly often.