Two Sides of A Coin

Yknow I think one of the big things that makes it a little weird to talk about the inner intricacies of one's life in public forums is that then you may have people ask you about those things. I suppose mostly I like to think that I can live in a world where I tell people things in a blog and they secretly get to know and I don't have to acknowledge that they know because we just don't talk about it in person :p haha. Which is funny since at the same time I don't like people knowing things about me when I don't know if they know ha. So yay for unrealistic expectations!

I had an instance with a friend a while back where she noticed a book I've been reading that was recommended to me by my therapist. She asked me about it and I decided to be forthcoming and admit it was an assignment from my therapist. What most people don't realize about me I think is that I'm very good at answering questions honestly without necessarily giving much in the way of information. I give you as much info as I think you want/need/are ready for/I trust you with.. I strive for honesty because I prefer to have that policy with people.. But if I feel you don't need to know something/don't have the trust necessary for the conversation, I will answer the question in such a way, that it is honest, but not forthcoming and lead you not to ask more questions if possible. Anyway... Back to my story.. She then asked a series of questions really just in the mode of striking conversation, not probing/expecting it to lead anywhere particularly revealing.. Expecting to learn more about my family, and ended up learning a lot more about me than she intended. And yknow, that's just how it goes sometimes.. She felt really bad afterwards that she may have come across as nosy because she had asked questions that got a little more personal than she had intended. 

Which, I totally get! I told her it was fine but I knew she wasn't feeling at peace with it when she left so I sent one last series of assurances. This is why if I'm not comfortable with you asking the questions, I probably won't give you the information necessary to be led to ask those questions. Doesn't necessarily mean I won't be uncomfortable answering those questions of course, merely that for you, I am willing to endure that discomfort ;D ha. Anyway, the point is, while neither of us was expecting to have that conversation, I was fine with having it because I generally assume that if you're asking the questions, you care enough to know the answer, and she did. If I had felt she didn't care enough to know the answer, I would have given responses far more vague. And had I truly been worried about it, I probably would have hidden the book before her visit to begin with. I have with other people. Whereas, with her, I'm glad we had that particular conversation.

That's the issue with talking about things on the Internet. Because you have no idea who cares enough to know the answers and who does not. You're allowing yourself to potentially have conversations with people you don't trust and who don't love you. You're also allowing yourself to help people you don't know and who need love. Those are two sides of an interesting coin.. One whose outcomes are hard to weigh.