Sharing

I’ve been inspired this week, by the honesty and vulnerability of an acquaintance from my school years, who has shared her deepest personal troubles on social media over the last couple of years. As is evident in my lack of consistency, my commitment to writing wavers. Short periods of activity followed by long periods of silence. In part it is due to the fullness of my life, but I also wonder if my confidence has played its part. I wonder how prepared I am to bare my soul to the internet.

Reading posts by someone going through such a major upheaval, I’m drawn to the intensity of the experience; the details, the emotions, the glimpse of a life that is not my own, a view through someone else’s eyes. 

What is so compelling about that kind of openness? The fearlessness of it, perhaps. Knowing that whilst it may bring support, it may also bring criticism and judgment, and writing it anyway.

On my own lesser level (I’m not going through any traumatic upheavals), committing my thoughts to paper (or in this case, a screen) is a catharsis. Expressing my thoughts and less frequently, my emotions, somehow lightens the load and helps me to re-focus. Reading someone else’s story gives me perspective. A reminder that mine is not the only experience, and whilst important in its own right, it is just one of many. We all have our trials and tribulations, our joyful times and our periods of suffering.

In sharing in the public domain, we are reaching out to connect to a community. One we already know, one we’ve lost, or maybe even one we’ve yet to be a part of. An outstretched hand from an individual, momentarily in need of support. I don’t think I’m even conscious of it, but that may be why I do it too. I’m not writing because I think someone else needs to read it, but because I need to write it. I have no tangible way of measuring any benefit I obtain from doing it, but I do it anyway. I’m not even convinced that anybody reads my occasional ramblings. Yet, I continue. And I continue to desire more consistency and to dedicate more of my time to writing, and sharing.