Did I Just Overshare? Who Cares...

By débora Ewing
two yellow and red peaches and a red ribbon
This picture overshares the state of my worktable. Not sorry.

I just had an interesting conversation about oversharing - something I've always been told I do - something everyone seems to be doing as social distancing continues.

I do it because I don't understand where the lines are or why truth shouldn't be shared. I always thought I was reporting, and that honesty is supposed to be, well, honorable. How did this get difficult?

I think oversharing should be normalized. Maybe we need rules.
  1. If someone overshares with you, there is no action required on your part. Acknowledge that you heard them.
  2. If you don't understand how the overshare relates to the conversation being had, ASK.
  3. Every conversation leaves several people holding things that desperately need to be said, and the things need to be included in a conversation for context. There are thousands of millions of stories out there waiting to be told. You can't know whether they're important (to you.)
  4. Get used to accepting things that don't fit your narrative. Leave a little room in the conversation for someone else's story.

Further reading:

@debsvalidation & a song before breakfast

Should I be tested for Autism as an adult?


Comments

  1. MariWednesday, 05 August, 2020

    I know that I feel true fury when someone asks me a question, I spend a minute or so thinking out a verified, honest and thorough answer and then they stop me and say, "Thanks, that's all I needed to know." And walk away. How do THEY know that is all they needed to know? Perhaps I needed to change my answer based on their answer to my answer. Perhaps that COULD have been a two-way conversation and I could have learned something from them? Perhaps, not. Maybe I would change my answer? Anyway, it REALLY pisses me off.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownThursday, 06 August, 2020

    Fellow oversharer 🙋🏻‍♀️

    ReplyDelete

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