I Am Not a Twitter Profile
"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence." ~ George Washington
Someone told me yesterday that I'm so sweet on Twitter so he couldn't believe how negative I am in real life (ya, he really said that). It surprised me because I wouldn't consider myself a negative person at all (I've actually been accused of being delusionally positive on several occasions). But to put it into context, his comment followed my admission that I didn't trust him enough to pour out my soul after two conversations (not gonna happen). I actually found his comment funny because, well, he had just compared me to my own Twitter feed. Newsflash: Twitter and Facebook are profiles; people are people. Don't get them confused.
I read a quote once that says, "When you laugh, the world laughs with you. When you cry, you cry alone." I totally believe this. In fact, I have a tattoo that says, "I dry my own tears." And because I believe this, I'm not going to constantly air my problems, or in this case, my hesitancy to trust an unfamiliar man, all over Twitter. I figure people get enough of that without me adding to it. I'd rather use my public platform to amuse, motivate, and make people think on a daily basis.
Does not completely trusting someone I just met make me bitter? No, trust is gained little by little. Am I being fake by trying to stay generally positive in public? I don't think so. I'm not representing myself as someone I'm not. I just go by the rule, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." (Hence my occasional cyber quiet periods).
So anyway, I said all of this to say two things:
One, realize the difference between online and real life. Just because people don't always vent in public, doesn't mean they are constantly skipping around, smiling and trusting everyone who ever spoke to them. That's unrealistic, even for the strongest, nicest people.
And two, I put A LOT of my life out there in public. The side of myself I keep is for me, and to be earned by, and shared with, the people I'm close to. If that's not you it doesn't mean I'm negative. It means you haven't put in the effort needed to play that role. You can find someone who will force-feed you her life story over coffee, or you can chill out and let things happen. #ThatIsAll
P.S. Talking to a writer is always dangerous. Lol.
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I think you have excellent boundaries and keep them well. Each of us do have to decide very clearly in our minds the kind of access we will allow other people, not only in our physical space but our social media space. You have every right to limit a strangers access to your more intimate spaces. Thanks for setting a great example!
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Does not completely trusting someone I just met make me bitter? I doesn't make you bitter, it makes you human. It makes you more appealing, it makes you what I call a 50/50 in between type. Key words, "not Completely"! You mentioned that "trust is gained little by little", I can see that, but how are those slices measured? Am I being fake by trying to stay generally positive in public? Being positive is something that comes through the pores of a person, it's seen and felt by those who walk past you, by those who catches you in a glance, it is a gift to have that some many wake up and pray for but still come in on the losing end of the battle to the negative. You also mentioned that "you are not representing yourself as someone your not", how can those truths be evident when the uncertainty of Positive is still up in the air. And yes the (LAW) NOT RULE SAY "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all", but it also says, Love Thy Self....When understanding that the understanding of positive will be amazingly EVIDENT.
