Why I Think "TMI" is Total Bullshit

We're all cool, dude.

I try (and fail) not to think too much about what other people must think of me, but I would imagine that one of the things that might come to mind is that I'm an oversharer (or, if the person is more generous with their adjectives/likes me more, I'm "honest.") Sometimes it's an inadvertent, diarrhea-of-the-mouth sort of situation, but more often I've given it the 2 seconds of thought required to decide that I'm cool with whatever gross/uncomfortable thing it is that I'm about to say. I think the more honest that we all are about our idiosyncrasies or perceived shortcomings, the less we'll come to think of them as flaws and think of them more as just another one of the things that human beings do.

 Have you ever been talking to someone about something that's supposed to be fun but you're stressed about, and they make a remark about being stressed, and you breathe this sigh of relief and go "Oh, thank GOD" because you feel the same way? I kind of work on being the kind of person who provokes that sigh, even if there's a risk that it might make me seem dumb/bitchy/disgusting. I try not to be overly precious about my "stuff" to maybe encourage people not to be so precious about theirs. I joke and talk about how I hate myself the morning after I find myself binge eating vanilla ice cream with crushed up potato chips poured on top at 11:30 at night when I wasn't even hungry because I'm starting my REAL diet tomorrow and Oh What The Hell. When people compliment my eyeliner I might say "Oh thanks! It's so weird, I fell asleep in front of Forensic Files last night and just touched up yesterday's makeup this morning." I sometimes rush out of the salon apologizing for not being able to stay while we close up and walk out with everyone but I've had to poop for the last 5 hours so Sayonara.  I half-hate any large social gathering where there's not at least an 70/30 split of my immediate friends to strangers, so I might talk about how I drank too fast because I felt anxious when asked how a party was.

 I do wonder sometimes if it's a problem that there's not a whole lot that I take seriously, and this goes beyond the jokier examples above.  But I also think the less weight we give our issues, big or small, the less they might weigh on us (you can find that embroidered on my Feelings Pillow.)  I also sometimes wonder if people think that I'm walking TMI and that I don't realize what I'm doing, but I do.  For sure there are times that I've cringed because it was too much or I've been blunt past the point of heroic, shiny honesty. But I talk about stuff like this because...well, primarily because I usually think it's funny, but secondarily because I know that when other people are open about things that I feel some shame or embarrassment about, it kind of wipes it away a little bit and makes me feel like maybe I'm not the worst. We're all weird fuckups and we're all amazing, and I think we should cop to both. Unless you guys are perfect in which case yeah, me too, totally.