“If you reveal everything, bare every feeling, ask for understanding, you lose something crucial to your sense of yourself. You need to know things that others don’t know. It’s what no one knows about you that allows you to know yourself.”
— Don DeLillo
Being a personal blogger you tend to share things about yourself that you would normally not tell passing strangers in the street but in the land of the internet you think nothing of posting your past, personal issues, dating disasters, family shenanigans for the sake of discussing a particular topic. The more you share, not in a TMI way but in an “OMG I do that too” type of way you will find people read and comment frequently.
Whilst you are sharing with people you are also learning about yourself and also trying to understand why you and others like you do the things you do or think the way you do. It can go from the pretty boring and mundane to the pretty spectacular and life changing.
However the catch 22 of personal blogging is epitomized in the quote above. Sometimes as a personal blogger I feel I reveal too much about myself. If people really wanted to know what I was like, my blog is peppered with clues but coming across the quote I had to ask myself, “As a personal blogger where do I draw the line and say that’s too personal and still keep the integrity of my blog and my writing?”.
That is my catch 22. While I figure it out I guess I will ponder some more on the quote because it came at the right time. It came at a time when I have been feeling that not only on this blog but in relationship with certain people I am too open. I share too much. Not indiscriminately but definitely with those that I trust I share the most about myself, almost leaving nothing as a mystery.
I kind of feel that I agree that “It’s what no one knows about you that allows you to know yourself” and I always say “no one knows you better than you”.
If you have a personal blog, please share your thoughts in the comments section on the catch 22 conundrum for personal bloggers. If you don’t have a personal blog, please share your thoughts on why you don’t or wouldn’t have one.
The battle of drawing the line…..
I have been blogging for almost four years and sometimes it gets blurry. I sometimes over-share and this has led to people feeling they got me figured out, and have access to my innermost self. In the past, i’ve had to temporarily stop writing to discover myself and deal with the consequences of this vulnerability. It makes me feel very transparent and predictable but i realised that no one can really know me. They can only judge based on my words. In the past, i received negative emails from readers saying my life is messy or as one reader put it, i need Jesus
However, despite all these, i love being as open as i am, i like to draw on my experiences and learn from them and also share with people who may have felt that way in the past. It’s a way of reflecting on my growth.
THIS!! I appreciated this comment because it was very honest and it came from a place of experience. LMAO though at people saying you need Jesus though RFLOL
I definitely fall under the reveal too much category, i have closed one 3yr old blog because of that, starting afresh with a new blogging persona and here i am making the very same mistake again.
This 30day challenge has probably caused me to reveal too many things i normally keep hidden about myself. sometimes before i click (POST) i read through i think if i really want people to know that about me.
Its like leaving myself bare for judgement and what not, a few times i hold back but apparently not enough, i guess i should really think about this before i get to the point of wanting to close this blog again
I actually choose what to share and I hate that…would love to just write freely!..sigh….
Anyway where’s the new update? O_O
Ah personal blogging.
Without consciously meaning too i think i’ve gotten a little less personal with my blog.
It’s even ironic that i blog because i am one of the most personal (secretive) people you will ever meet. There’s a lot that can be inferred about me from what i do post, but there’s also so much that i don’t even consider sharing on le blog.
And like you said, “no one knows me better than me”
I think that is what is funny about personal bloggers though, they tend to be private ass people in real life. Its almost like online they feel safer?
I also don’t think personal bloggers mean to share as much as they do, you start typing and boom, you reveal shit. I remember someone asking me about something I wrote on this blog in a social setting outside the blog world and the side eye I gave…like I didn’t reveal the ish myself lol