Undersharing

NEW UPDATE 2/26: I’m taking a break from “Life Lines”– so this is the last post you’ll see for a while. I’m currently at work on a new magazine piece and scheduling a series of writing workshops to be announced this spring. I’ll share more info about my new projects and workshops here and in future subscriber posts.

“Our stories are not meant for everyone. Hearing them is a privilege, and we should always ask ourselves this before we share: ‘Who has earned the right to hear my story?’ Even if we have just one or two people in our lives who can sit with us and hold space for our stories, and love us for our strengths and struggles, we are incredibly lucky.” ~Brené Brown

There are times when I face challenges that I’m not comfortable sharing with many others. As tempting as it can be to seek out other opinions, or even emotional comfort, I first need to get a handle on those issues myself.

Back in the day when I was still on Facebook, I was often surprised at how much personal information people shared with virtual strangers. Even though I wrote about my own life in my newspaper columns, I was always careful to keep private information to myself. As Brene Brown reminds us, it’s wise to confide carefully. In a social media culture that encourages oversharing, you’ll never regret saving your most personal material for a select audience. ~CL

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