28 Comments
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Claudia Doyle's avatar

Yes! This exactly! I wonder if it's easier to share intimately to strangers than people you know because you think you'll never see them again, and therefore can't be judged by them

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Caroline Beuley's avatar

I feel the same way!! I share so much online, but I'm a little more guarded in real life with who I become close with and let into my life. It's hard sometimes to reconcile those two parts of myself! Love this Emily!

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emily north's avatar

thank you caroline !!!!!!

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Melinda Fakuade's avatar

really enjoyed this!! I also just wrote about sharing + being perceived, and I have similar hang ups as you (although I find it hard to share with strangers and Uber drivers etc lol)

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emily north's avatar

thank you !!!! get to chatting in ubers it’s better than therapy !!!!!!

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Jos T's avatar

Develop an alias! Sheesh!

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emily north's avatar

hahahahha

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Sarah | Fewer & Better's avatar

Y E S literally my philosophy for my Substack as well. I always think of my writing as "cocktail party chatter." Love this!

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Irene Kim (김애린)'s avatar

This was relateable!

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emily north's avatar

thank you!!!!!!

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Lael Moore's avatar

As someone who also ping pongs back and forth between the overshare and the undershare this was deeply relatable, loved this so much!

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emily north's avatar

thanks angel

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Sincerely Red's avatar

A beautiful piece and definitely one I can relate to. It is always so much easier to share the deepest parts of yourself online, to strangers who may still judge you but the judgement doesn't hurt quite as much.

It also just shows how multifaceted we humans are.

Thank you for sharing <3

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emily north's avatar

beautiful and so sick

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Angelina Hazzouri's avatar

baptized in japan 🔜

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emily north's avatar

you are the only person travelling to japan who is my business

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emily north's avatar

loling

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Isabella's avatar

On a side note: I find it easier to share things to strangers on the internet than people I actually know!

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Louisette's avatar

I realized i feel the same way! Yes, I may share some(so much actually) highlights of my life online but doesn’t mean that I like oversharing things. It’s like the feeling of sharing it but not actually sharing it. Simple words, you’re sharing it but without the details, yk.

I hope someone gets me.

P.S It’s okay to share some things but some aren’t really necessary.

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Rita Dantas's avatar

I could have written so much of this! As a beginner, I still feel so startled when someone I know subscribes...

PS: I never choose "no conversation in an uber" - I could never, that is a human, not a service provider. But I secretly do prefer them to let me be :p

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Becky Butler's avatar

Trying to walk the line right now bc so many words are waiting to spill over but the emotion is just too raw to spill it all out

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Chloe Martin's avatar

beautifully written, as per usual

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Oatmilk Allison's avatar

"i control the words i write, the pictures i post, the music and articles i share, yet i get sick if i let myself think about them rinsed through someone else’s thoughts." This part really stuck out to me. I love to write, especially creative nonfiction, but it's hard to think about other's perceiving it, especially on substack where friends and family read what I write. But the key is no one can truly know you through your writing, like you said, it's you to decide what is shared. If someone thinks they know you through that, that's their misjudgment.

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Dia Lupo's avatar

This SPEAKS to me in so many ways wow 🤯🤯

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