I’ve always had difficulty sharing. While others had interesting stories, something bothering them or something they were excited about… I never felt a compulsion when it came for me to share. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust, or wasn’t comfortable being open, I just didn’t know what would be interesting or feel the desire to unload my burdens upon someone else. If someone would ask, then I’d answer, but until then… I would keep to myself.

But sharing is something more than just for you. It’s for other people as well. While you might be perfectly happy in your own life to keep to yourself, it’s important to also consider what that means for the people you are close with. Sharing means giving them an insight into how you are, letting them in and feeling like that they matter and can help. That they’re important, because they are.

It’s a lot easier to share about things that have been and gone, rather than things that are going to happen. There’s a certain level of trust that comes with sharing before, being vulnerable because you don’t know exactly what’s going to happen, or how it’s all going to turn out. Sharing after the fact is comfortable, the story is written for better or for worse and there’s a much greater license to edit the sharing of the story, to sanitise it from the most rawest parts to twist the tale to fit the ego.

Having something shared in anticipation holds much more weight to us, we’re now an active part of the story, included from the start, able to give opinion, comfort and guidance. Finding something out after the moment leaves us as a spectator, a passive bystander in someone else’s life. We can easily find ourselves question how important we really are to have only found out after, and not as things are developing.

Sharing is not only about you, but the people around you. Letting people in is key to not only helping yourself but those around you too. Finding something that is difficult to share is a good guide that it’s something you should do sooner rather than later.

Did this strike a chord with you? If you would like to talk more, tweet or DM me or connect with me on LinkedIn.