Biggest fear

[echo]

one of my biggest fears came true. one of my online friends lives close to me but i hate myself so i wouldn’t ever meet him any time soon and i just found out my niece goes to the same school as him. i am tired

[ofmiceandben]

If you don’t mind me asking, and you definitely don’t have to answer this but why is that your biggest fear?

[echo]

i like anonymity. the fact of being known or seen by anybody, especially those i know, scares me. the thought of my family ever meeting one of my online friends by accident and them saying anything about me just scares me. it’s like if your s/o was meeting your parents for the first time but you don’t want them explaining your entire love life to them, right? just explaining anything about me to my friends is like that

[ofmiceandben]

I can totally understand that. I wouldn’t start to panic about your niece going to school with said friend because more than likely they will never meet each other and if they do they probably won’t know about you relationship to both of them.

[beth_the_fake_ginger]

I actually understand where you’re coming from. I don’t like when my friends and family and coworkers intermingle like that. It seems like there are some things that are more comfortable to talk about and enjoy with one person, and when that one person meets another, then there seems to be no control almost over what information about you is shared. And honestly, you don’t need to share everything about your life to everyone. I think maybe making sure your friend knows how you feel about being more anonymous may help out a little. I don’t think they would ever connect your niece to you and find your whole identity, but in the slim case that would happen, they would know that you want to keep those boundaries and hopefully would respect those boundaries until you are comfortable to share more.