On Sharing
To share or not to share?
It’s a thing.
Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m very generous as a person. I share my learned experience, resources and time abundantly to any creature who crosses my path.
Vulnerability is not always the issue. Many times even after the boundaries checkpoint has been cleared and the subject at hand has been deemed personal (not private; there’s a difference), my personal, beautiful and most holy gift sits, wrapped with a bow in a corner collecting dust…or worse, in my hand, just shy of being offered.
There are so many reasons why.
Trusting people with fragile things is well…scary.
How will they hold it? Will this thing I love be tossed about roughly or held like the jewel I have known it to be? We do not all value the same things and well… the value of some things, through all of our filters can be deceptively hard to see.
On a train ride one summer from Lucca to Rome, I shared a car with a gentleman who lived in a small hilly town outside of Rome. We were facing each other in our seats by the window; knees only a foot apart. I entered a coughing fit, he offered me a mint. Then, with a mumbled, “grazie”, our conversation began.
Now, all of the Italian I had studied before I arrived was mostly used to order food and ask for directions or to compliment a shop owner on her shoes. I had not yet actually held a real conversation with anyone…and I don’t know that I intended to. But here I was…talking.
And it was amazing.
I felt so alive! The rush of trying something new! I am speaking Italian…to an Italian! Granted, when he left the train I was drenched in a nervous sweat and I fell on my face so many times in that convo it wasn’t even funny. Antonio however, was gracious and kind and even complimented me because he spoke no English. We took a selfie together when we parted and connecting with another human being so different from me, and yet so similar, was an experience I’ll never forget.
So there it is. Sharing (art or anything else) is scary.
But just maybe the rush might be worth it.
xoxox,
Joy!