The Honest Writer is Lonely

Sometimes being a writer can be a lonely life, especially if you are an honest writer. Your words and opinions can cause you to feel alienated from friends and family.

In direct conversation you can be more cautious about the things you say around certain people. If you know politics is a hot button for someone in present company you steer clear of political topics.

However, a writer puts opinions and thoughts out there for the world to read. Unless a pseudonym is used and effort is made to keep things secret, family and friends will read the published words. They hold the writer in judgement for the things they choose to publish. The writer can, and will, lose people close to them for opinions and points of view.

That may keep some writers from feeling comfortable opening up about topics that may be controversial. There are times I have thought twice about writing something or posting it for the public to read. But then I stop and remind myself that they can’t really love me if they are going to judge me for my point of view.

Nobody else has walked in my shoes. The people and events that influenced my life are not shared exactly with anyone else. In fact, the same person can have a different effect on different people.

Because I’ve been held in judgment most of my life I try hard not to judge other people. I haven’t walked in their shoes. I haven’t lived their life.

At some point I know I’m going to publish a post that people close to me will object to or find fault with. I hope I don’t let that influence my decision to publish it. Not publishing it won’t change my opinion. It will just limit who knows I feel that way. Not publishing it would make me feel I’m not being true to me.  I would feel like I was not honest with myself.

And I have to live with me. I have to look myself in the eye when I look in the mirror. Whether I only believe things in my heart or I put them out for the world to see, there is no difference to me. My beliefs are the same.

Many times people are more concerned with how others view them or what other people’s opinions of them are than they are with their true self. It is easier for them to please others than to be true to what they feel within themselves. They live a lie in hopes that others will like them more.  They can’t be honest even with themselves.

Maybe that will stop other writers from professing their truths or publishing what they think or feel or have experienced. Not this writer. I write because I have to, but I write what is true to me. And if that means I lose friends and family, then they never really loved me to begin with.