On Honesty
My favorite writer is back on Medium and it’s motivated me to start writing (at least) 100 words per day again.
Today I want to talk about honesty, specifically in the context of perceptions and emotions.
I hold honesty in very high regard — I always try to be honest with people about how I feel about them. I’ve told people I used to think they were a terrorist, I’ve told people that I used to think they were stuck up, I’ve told people I used to think that they were dumb.
It sounds really bad, I know — but for me it’s always helped me become closer with people, when I’m honest about how I used to judge them when I didn’t know them. When I tell them how I used to feel about them, it clears the air, and makes it much more easier to be more open about everything else in the future. It shows how initial judgements and first impressions are often wrong. In the end, people surprise you a lot.
But the weird thing is that in some situations, honesty still scares me.
Whenever someone sends me a long chat, I wince at the thought of reading it. I’m scared that I’ll become overwhelmed with emotions, I’m scared that I won’t be able to reply properly, there’s a lot that scares me about pure, unfiltered and raw honesty.
So for 2020, that’s what I want to fix. I want to be even more open to people, and to accept other people’s honesty without fear. I want to be brave enough to accept raw displays of emotion, without running away from them.
(That was definitely more than 100 words, but just to be honest: it probably always will be like this for future posts.)
