Public vs. Private

I never used to be a very public person. I was always to quiet, shy kid in the corner, and even though I had a really close group of friends, I still didn’t tell them things about my private life that I didn’t feel the need to. In fact, one of my friends stopped talking to me for a week because she found out I liked a boy and hadn’t told her (oh the joys of secondary school).

But since moving away to university, I have a whole new found confidence, and I’ve completely come out of my shell. Apparently coming out of my shell means I have no issues telling anyone anything about my life! I’m not saying that’s necessarily a bad thing – it’s always good to share your feelings, and have people that you can talk to about anything that goes through your head.

But sometimes I feel like there should always be an element of privacy in your life. For example, if the littlest thing happens to me, or a thought goes through my head, the first thing I do is tell one of the girls. Usually in essay text messages (which I’m sure they love me for, by the way!).

I know that complaining about all this is contradicted by the fact that I write down any feelings I have into this very blog. But then again, I feel like this is a therapeutic way of doing things. It also allows random people of the internet who may be experiencing similar situations, feel like they’re not so alone. For example, I was reading Hannah’s blog the other night (which I highly recommend, by the way. She’s brilliant!), and she had written a similar post to my break up post that I wrote a few weeks ago. Just knowing that one other person is experiencing something similar, makes it that little bit easier.

I’m not saying you should tell everyone absolutely everything that goes through your head, but sometimes, a problem shared is a problem halved. It’s not a weakness to show people how you feel, and in the end, if it lifts some of the weight off your shoulder, surely that’s worth it?