Thoughts about sharing

July 24th, 2023

“Send me your photos!” a colleague of mine asked as soon as I told him that I was on a trip in a beautiful faraway country.

I didn’t even stop to think: “No.”

No offense, but why would you need my photos? We are not even friends, we only work together a couple of times a year. Not total strangers, but barely so. Why would a stranger want my photo?

I am not an outstanding photographer; if some of my photos are beautiful the same thing can be said about gazillions of other photos online. So why would you need my photos? Curiosity? Or envy?

To me, each photo I take represents a special moment. It is connected to the thoughts and emotions that I had at that very moment. It can represent a new idea or even an Aha moment. Most importantly, it represents my experience, and as such it is deeply personal.

It would never represent any of it to you; in fact, in your eyes (unless I explain it, but why would I?), it won’t have even a small percentage of the value that it represents to me.

It’s mine and it’s precious to me. For my own reasons.

Things that we hold dear shouldn’t be shared carelessly with everyone around us.

If you had a chest full of treasure, would you be showing it to every passer-by? I don’t think so. Because if you do that, someone will inevitably try to steal some of it from you out of jealousy or greed or both, others will try to diminish its value or persuade you that it’s not as good and precious as you think.

I think photos and memories are just like that chest of treasure. They are precious. At least, mine are to me. So why would I share freely something precious with everyone else, without any filtering? Sharing is good and pleasant, but only with those who matter and who are genuinely interested and willing to understand.

I know today it is considered normal to share our photos on social media, the more the better. Sometimes people spend more time chasing instagrammable pics than really enjoying the experience/country/attraction itself.

I’m not criticizing anyone. Everyone has their own reason for doing whatever they do. I’m just trying to explain my reasons for not doing what most people do.

To me, doing something for likes and comments is the same as seeking someone else’s approval, a vicious cycle that can only hurt. I want my own opinion about myself and everything that’s mine to remain more important for me than all the appreciation of others. After all, the only person that is always going to stay in my life and my world is me.