Outsized personas are very useful - they are our alter egos that fight our battles and allow us to fulfill our fantasies. They can be an armor against the world, and, as you said, they can help us find our voices (and social media has been a sandbox to build and cultivate our personas).
But they also filter out the wrong people in our lives. People who are drawn to us for superficial reasons, or who use us for what we can do for them, get fixated on or turned off by our personas. But certain people - the right people for us - will be interested in both the persona and the flawed, messy person who created it.
You’re right - writing about yourself and your experiences honestly will drive people away. But it will also bring new people in - the people who are interested in the real you, and the ones who should’ve been around you all along.
Truth hurts. Vulnerability is frightening. And finding our voice can be lonely. But it’s worth it. To be open and honest about who we really are and what we really think in a world so determined to grind our humanness to sawdust.
Reading this reminded me of the Captain Holt line - “Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place”.
I just read this and needed to hear it as I am drafting a host of quite vulnerable but true-to-me posts. Why would I want to be close to people who can't accept the less polished parts of me? if people are judgemental, that's their burden to carry. Thank you Ken x
Outsized personas are very useful - they are our alter egos that fight our battles and allow us to fulfill our fantasies. They can be an armor against the world, and, as you said, they can help us find our voices (and social media has been a sandbox to build and cultivate our personas).
But they also filter out the wrong people in our lives. People who are drawn to us for superficial reasons, or who use us for what we can do for them, get fixated on or turned off by our personas. But certain people - the right people for us - will be interested in both the persona and the flawed, messy person who created it.
You’re right - writing about yourself and your experiences honestly will drive people away. But it will also bring new people in - the people who are interested in the real you, and the ones who should’ve been around you all along.
Truth hurts. Vulnerability is frightening. And finding our voice can be lonely. But it’s worth it. To be open and honest about who we really are and what we really think in a world so determined to grind our humanness to sawdust.
Reading this reminded me of the Captain Holt line - “Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place”.
I just read this and needed to hear it as I am drafting a host of quite vulnerable but true-to-me posts. Why would I want to be close to people who can't accept the less polished parts of me? if people are judgemental, that's their burden to carry. Thank you Ken x