Don’t let anyone bully you out of sharing your story.
Now, you should never feel compelled to share things about yourself that you're not ready to share. But sharing your story is a gift. It can be a gift for yourself and for others.
Some might call this a testimony.
Others may call it being an advocate.
Sure, maybe don’t let it become your whole identity.
You’re so much more than just one piece of your story.
But never for a second allow anyone to convince you that your story isn’t worth sharing.
One of the most heinous lies we believe is that we are alone. Mine and Megan’s struggle with infertility taught me this.
Anytime I’ve opened up about my own struggles, whether with becoming parents, or my weight, or fatherhood, or my mental health, or my spiritual journey, or imposter syndrome, or any number of other things, being open has led to beautiful moments of connection with others. Mostly encouragement for me and sometimes for them, too.
If you have any sort of platform and want to use it for something good, do it.
Don’t let haters discourage you. It says way more about them than it does about you.
Sharing about my life on social media isn’t a natural thing for me, surprisingly enough. I’d much rather be a lurker. But I have precious friendships built upon my willingness to be open publicly about the things I’ve struggled with.
Call it cringe if you want (sometimes even I do), but if I hadn’t allowed myself to lean into my weirdness at times, really lean into my cringiness, I would have robbed myself and others of some pretty special moments along the way.
Does that annoy some of you? I’m sure it does. But maybe that just means we’re not each other’s type of people. And that’s okay. Because I’m just here looking for my people.