Right on Mike. Self censorship is a vicious cycle. We think we’re the only one doing it, so we become afraid to tell our real stories. we think we’re the only ones with serious junk. We isolate ourselves.

I’ve been working on more transparency on the blog. I’ve yet to take the huge leaps yet. Not sure what holds me back. Force of habit, maybe? We get so used to censoring that we don’t even know why we do it anymore?

Amen!

I entirely agree. For years I censored what I said to different people, based on my own pride and what I thought people could deal with – and for years I hurt inside without letting myself really be seen. It turns out that most people appreciate it when you’re honest with them, and that they can (generally) handle a whole lot more than I gave them credit for.

It was a huge, scary leap to start being “real” with people and to start breaking down the façade, but it has been so immensely worth it. I am so thankful to the people around me who have seen me for who I am, and who have taken me despite all those things. I’m slowly discovering that a life lived honestly is a thing of quite some beauty.

So right on Mike! Please keep sharing this far and wide. The day I stopped living under this censorship and took ownership of my story by breaking the silence, everything changed. I was told that I was out of line for sharing, but it was a huge turning point in my life.

Guily as Charged! Thanks for the challenging reminder!

Christians have a very bad habit of editing things to make them more acceptable both to other Christians and to the world itself. Good post, Mike.

This is one of those posts I wish I had written. That’s the basis for Not a Camouflaged Soul. – http://jonwellman.com.

Thanks!

Do you think social media and the mass availability of online “branding” tools encourage ordinary people to create a desirable commodity of themselves?

do you think social media and online branding tools play a part encouraging people to create online commodity versions of themselves?

There is another sort of lie we tell that runs parallel to hiding our scandal and pain, and it is called identifying completely with our scandal and pain. This happens a lot and is called “authenticity,” but it is sometimes just another place to hide. If I become “David the recovering addict” every time I am around a certain group of people, that group of people will likely get a 2-D idea of me instead of knowing all of me. The trick is finding a way to share all of myself, the wonderful stuff and the muck, without identifying completely with one part or the other.

great add david! love that!

totally think social media teaches us to put our best self forward…and censor.

very cool!

Even when I imagine what I might say or write, I censor myself. Even as I’m only in the thinking stages of writing my story I’ve already assumed I’d censor the worst (best?) parts out, just to be on the safe side. I think it’s time to edit my censors.

thanks Mike…