As a blogger, I’m almost expected to share everything that is going on in my life.  Some people, especially family, will even get upset when I don’t share something that is personal, or something that I just don’t want the whole world to know at the moment. I know that being a blogger has made me need to be more available to others, to show them vulnerability, to prove that behind the pictures and fun posts, that I am a real person. But with that, being a real person, also means that I need to have some privacy as well.

I’m coming back from essentially a week’s hiatus where I have barely been on any social media, barely posted a new blog post, and have been very quiet about what’s going on, which is my intention to keep at this moment.  So why am I even posting this?

I’m posting because for the thousands of other bloggers out there that feel like they need to share every intimate moment with the world before they are ready.  For those millions of people who aren’t bloggers who feel like their whole lives must be narrated on social media without pause. We don’t need to do that. We don’t have to do that.  I am not going to do that.

I’m not going to share.

At least not at this moment. Maybe, in the future, I will be ready to share, but right now I’m not.  And that’s okay. I believe it’s okay.

So next time that you see someone “taking a break”, “vaguebooking”, or even “completely disappeared from everywhere”, why don’t you stop and say a prayer for them, send them a text message or an e-mail, pick up the phone and make sure they are okay.

And if they say there’s something going on that they aren’t ready to share, respect that. Let them know that you are available if they need it and truly mean it. Just saying, “please let me know if there’s anything I can do”, goes farther than you can imagine. And if you still haven’t heard from them in three or five days, send another message, “just thinking about you”, “can I bring dinner over?”.

It’s takes a village to raise a society and even though we are living in a society that wants instant answers and immediate gratification, we mustn’t forget that we are all humans with complex feelings and emotions that need privacy at times and others satisfaction of knowing isn’t always that answer and because of that, I’m don’t have to share.