Selective information

I don’t know if this is a common thing or not, but when I had things happen physically (with my Ulcerative Colitis), I found it very workable to only tell people the details that were actually interested and who actually cared about the answer. I found that most people ask how you are or if you are doing better mostly as a social “hi, how do you do?” type of thing as opposed to an honest, sincere request for information. These people were totally fine with an answer like “yes, I’m doing better” or “things have definitely calmed down”.

One of the ways I found out who actually cared (besides those who I already knew cared) was that they usually wouldn’t accept those types of answers. They would say something like “that’s great, but HOW ARE YOU?” blowing aside the social answer and actually requesting information. And I usually gave it to them at that point–and depending on what the information was I might ask them not to spread it, not because I was embarrassed, but more because some things just are socially acceptable or are hard to confront (like most of the things people with colitis or Chrons deal with), so I would try to keep them out of the “limelight”.

Anyway, I guess I’m not really applying that if I’m going to post about things, but that’s how I’ve dealt with giving people information up until now. I’ll probably still approach things this way in person, but if they find out via some other method, I won’t be upset. I can handle any weirdness that might show up from those people that shouldn’t have gotten all of the nitty gritty details. Honestly, if they really can’t handle it, they probably shouldn’t be dealing with me, but I would say my friends and family and associates are all fairly high on the scale and would be able to handle it should they come into possession of the data.