In the past few days I read a text that resonated deeply with me. It said that if we truly shared our real emotions with someone, they would declare us insane.
It has happened to me too. When I began sharing my inner struggles online, people told me I should admit myself to a psychiatric hospital.
And yet I was thinking…
Although it was a risk for me and an act of real courage to give voice to the battles I was fighting and to expose myself like that, on the internet vulnerability is diffuse. You throw it into the ether. It has no precise recipient. There is no specific pair of eyes that can reject you in real time. There is no concrete relationship you are necessarily risking. If it hurts, it hurts “in general.”
In real relationships, vulnerability is targeted.
You tell someone how you feel. Someone who matters. Someone whose reaction can reconfigure you or break you. There is no public catharsis there. There is relational risk.
That is why it is easier to say “I am hurt” in front of a thousand strangers than to say:
– you hurt me
– I am afraid
– I need you
The internet allows a controlled vulnerability. I edit, delete, polish my words, receive validation.
Daily life, however, demands an unfiltered vulnerability. A trembling voice. A stomach in knots. Pauses. Possible rejection.
I have thought about this a lot. Many times I told myself there was no point, that the people involved would not understand anyway, and even if they did, they would not know what to do with my emotions. But deep down I know this is more about my fear.
And maybe this is the hard truth:
I am not a coward when I post vulnerabilities online,
but I am truly brave when I say them where the stakes are real.
Just saying.