I journaled pretty heavily for a year in a way that was mostly honest and probably mostly limited in that respect by my self awareness. The following year, I did a volunteer program with 25–30 other people and as part of one exercise left them out to be read. It’s hard to judge the outcome because I was kind of naive about some things, but I think overall it caused some to put their guard up more than they would have.
I’m honest here, but I would hate for someone I knew to find and follow my posts.
Sometimes, I’m compelled to be honest, like when I wrote a gushing and pornographic letter to a coworker who had given me months of sexual tension or when I e-mailed everyone I knew about my take on 9/11. Both efforts were punishing on the surface, but I still felt satisfied articulating those truths.
For better or worse, I think it’s more effective to cloak honest writing in a degree of abstract universalism. In my experience, people have a hard time fitting interpersonal relations and naked honesty in the same space.