So, it's the New Year and as you would expect the first couple of days were full of optimism and hope for the 12 months ahead. In the last couple of days I've already seen people curse the new year, once again as you'd expect, keeping to tradition! Just goes to show you can't please everyone!
Anyway, going back to the actual topic of this post. A couple of days ago, probably still on a high from the turn of the year, I decided to give everyone I know on Facebook a free pass. This free pass allowed anyone to ask me as many questions as they wanted and I would give them an honest answer no matter how personal or private the question. Was there a catch? Nope, not really. I did however requested that the answers remained private, only fair right?
Now, the reason I wanted to write about this, was because I've always felt I'm an honest and straightforward person and pretty much an open book, particularly with those I trust. Could that be the reason people asked if I had gone crazy for opening myself up to potential embarrassing questions? Well, may be, but only those that made those comments can answer that.
I guess I gave that "free pass" to see how open people felt I was and whether or not they felt comfortable enough asking me pretty much anything. It allowed people to ask me questions which I don't think they would have asked in a normal conversation, well most of the questions wouldn't have come up in a normal conversation, at least I don't think so anyway.
An old friend asked me "We used to be really close, once upon a time.. Why did you drift away..?". Now I don't think that's something people find easy to ask or even answer for that matter. The pass gave them the opportunity to ask me and guaranteed an answer but would I have answered it if they had asked me without the pass? Yes I think I would, may be not in the past but certainly in recent times.
Why the difference? Well, I've changed a lot over the last few years, as I'm sure many of you have. I didn't really realise how much I had changed until recently and the questions I was asked by people definitely hit home how much I've changed. I don't think I would have been able to put up the free pass thing a few years ago, not because I couldn't be honest but I just wouldn't have known how to handle questions relating to my personal and private life.
I did expect a lot of silly questions, questions you would expect to be asked as a teenager, but the majority of questions were very genuine and personal. So, would you be able to give people a free pass to ask anything they wanted with a guaranteed honest answer from you? If not, why not? Do you feel it's too intrusive? Are you a private person and like to remain mysterious? Is it worth coming out of your shell even for a few hours?
For me, it definitely was worth it, I was able to clear up mis-understandings and at the same time almost prove that I really am an open book, you just have to ask!
So have a think people: Do you think your friends and family feel comfortable enough to ask you personal and private questions? Do you want people to feel comfortable enough to ask you anything? Do you only have that sort of honest and open relationship with only a handful of people?
Why not try the free pass out for yourself? Maybe it'll clear up a few things for you!
No comments:
Post a Comment