From the youngest of ages we are taught that sharing is important. We are taught that the essence of being a good person is to share what you have with others. At that young age we have a wealth of opportunities with many snacks and toys to be shared with our similarly young peers.
As we grow older it can seem that the opportunities and necessity of sharing is diminished. When our incomes grow and we’re all generally able to meet our material needs, what do we share with others who are in a similar position? This phenomenon that I’m describing is separate from charitable work, because yes there are people who still need assistance. And this is also separate from the relationship you’d have with people who are dependent on you like children, of course you’re going to share with them.
When we think of “sharing is caring” we often think of it in a material sense; food, shelter, and resources generally. I think we need to broaden that definition, I think sharing your experiences with others is a good thing.
Sharing our lives has become polarized in the age of social media, with it being both glorified with likes and stigmatized by the envious or annoyed. While it is certainly true that many people online only portray the best of their lives, there are still plenty who share everything from the profound to the mundane.
There’s this phrase that I say a lot: “I’m constantly amazed at how other people live their lives”. And I want to be clear that I don’t mean that in a judging tone, I am amazed! There are billions of ways to live our lives. We have so much that is shared yet we’re all living our own unique lives with vast intricacies and complexity. Nobody else will fully experience my life, and I’ll never be able to fully experience anyone else’s.
Since we’re never able to live any life other than our own, we look toward others for what to do and how to act. We don’t know what other people feel or what they do when we’re not looking. I’m sure we’ve all experienced living with someone new and being astonished at their habits. I would’ve never thought there were any different approaches to brushing your teeth or pouring a glass of milk, but from living with others I learned that apparently there are. Sharing your experiences can be good for others. It can help expose them to a new way of living.
Other people’s experiences also help us learn more about ourselves. When exposed to others we can sometimes abruptly learn some personal truth that we previously didn’t know. Lately there’s been this trend of “TikTok gave me Autism” with a ton of people self-identifying as autistic. Some don’t like this trend because they feel it trivializes a serious medical condition, like no, just because you like to read Wikipedia articles doesn’t mean you’re autistic. But on the flip side, so many people have been able to learn that there are others out there with mental functions similar to theirs. If people hadn’t shared their experiences there’d be way more people out there thinking “I’m the only one who is like this, I’m the only one who is different”. Sharing your experiences can help people know that they aren’t alone.
While I’m not autistic, I see something beautiful in that trend. Learning other’s experiences has helped me learn that I’m not autistic, and that is valuable info too. Learning from others perspectives can help you both learn who you are and learn who you are not, and both are equally valuable.
I would not be the person I am today without others sharing their lives. I can live a more authentic life from reading, listening, and viewing art of other’s experiences. Finding your authentic life takes trial and error, it’s a real skill you have to develop. And anytime you’re trying to develop a skill it’s valuable to listen to someone who’s done it before who’ll share the wisdom.
So I encourage you to share your life, share your insights, share your perspectives. While on a day to day basis we might not have any pressing snacks or toys we need to share like toddlers, sharing our lives can be wonderfully useful to better the lives of those around us. Share it in conversations, share it in writing, share it in art! Go forth and share your life with others for we all crave knowledge on how to live our lives.