I have always, always, ALWAYS!, said “it’s better out, than in”.  Meaning, that it is better to talk about something, than hold all that negative emotion inside you, letting it eat you up alive.  Why put yourself through all that pain and anguish, when half of it, if not all, might not even be true. 

It is said to be a true influencer, a master artist or craftsman, you must be honest with yourself and others.  This includes being transparent on social media.  Show your true feelings; show the pain that you went through has made you the person you are today.  The trouble is not everyone has a near death or life altering experience that changes them completely, let alone be shared from the mountain tops. 

More importantly, not everyone wants to bare their “warts and all” to the world on social media.  This possibly stems from a fear of being judged by your peers.  For example, I saw a Facebook posting from someone who I thought was my ‘Friend’.  She was having a great time, appearing to be this fierce warrior on a trip all by herself.  I was amazed to see the kind of trip she was on and innocently said ‘It looks like you are having a great time, I think it is really brave for you to go on a trip alone’. I then asked “is there anything you were afraid of that you did on the trip to conquer your fears?”. Boy was I immediately shut down; the reply back was ‘they were not afraid of anything’.  This conversation was shut down like Fort Knox! 

That was my wakeup call realising not everyone can, or wants, to reveal their true selves on social media, let alone on a public Facebook page where their 1,000+ friends will see them for who they truly are.   Little did I realise she was going through a divorce which was publicly announced to the world on Facebook by her a few months later.  Once I found this out, I was sad to hear the news, but disheartened for her that she couldn’t open up and be completely honest.  This, however, is me to the core.  I am very happy to share my experiences and feelings about anything I have gone through in the hope that I can help someone else in future.

As I mentioned before, my motto is “it’s better out, than in”.  It is far better to be open with people about your feelings rather than bottling them up inside and pretending everything is wonderful.  A recent study reported in the March 2019 issue of Psychological Science found those who held on to stress were worse off a decade later, than those who were able to quickly shrug off the event.  Take a leaf from Taylor Swift’s and just “shake it off, shake it off”.  More people will feel better for sharing something so personal, rather than putting on a façade.  People are smart, they will see through the mask and might not feel a close bond if you are not willing to be transparent about your life “warts and all”.