Hi — So I just listened to your latest podcast.. I tried to leave a comment but got a 404.. repeatedly. And annoyingly! Check into that, will you? : )

Anyway — I was going to comment that I disagree with you. Maybe some people *are* afraid. I don’t know, because I really can’t guess what motivates others. But I think generally what motivates people to share — or I should say, what motivates me to share, or over-share, depending on your perspective of what I do on annhandley.com, is less about wanting attention for myself, or wanting the spotlight, than it is about me feeling a need to connect with others, and in doing so to make me and (I hope) them, feel like we are all a little less crazy, or a little less alone.

So in that way, it’s in part about me but also about them. At least, in the best case. I write so I can understand myself — and I publish it (on a blog, but maybe some day in a larger venue) in the hopes that others relate to what I write and that maybe they can relate to it, too. Maybe it helps them understand themselves. And maybe it brings us all a little closer to the surface. A little closer to the vast expanse of air.

(Otherwise, if it was all about me, I’d just leave it on the pages of a diary and be done with it. That would be easier, in a way. Woudn’t it?)

The best thing is when I’m reading what someone else wrote, or produced, or sang, or tapped out, or whatever… and I think, “Ah… yes, that’s what it is….” When I recognize myself, or I am nudged to recognize myself in a different way.. but at the same time recognize a larger humanity. I strive to offer the same.

It seems to me that everyone — or most people — slap on a kind of veneer. I used to find that disappointing, because I used to wish people would present all of themselves, and not just an edited, or partially illuminated, self. But I’ve come to think that it’s too hard, really, for more people to walk around all the time with their inner selves hanging out. It makes us too vulnerable, I guess. So like the way a hard shellac extends the life of a wooden chair, I guess people, too, need a bit of a protective coating.