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Nope, never felt the need to conceal myself. I'm pretty much an open book. Maybe, too much so to a fault.

Not one bit. On the contrary - when DH proposed I actually had a serious discussion with him about what he was "getting into" so to speak! I'm not a bad person and I have a great family - but there are just some things that I knew might eventually annoy him in our marriage and I wanted him to be okay with that and go into marriage knowing full-well who I am.

I think in the last few years. For me it was letting go of the vision everyone had of me as the super-achiever I always was in school. I think if you'd asked anyone who knew me before 22 they would've said I'd be a CEO or partner of a firm or something super impressive before I was 30-- I was just always the youngest/super driven/high achiever person through school. Then I got a job that I didn't like in a field I don't really like and I also got married and realized that (unexpectedly) I did REALLY like spending time at home/with my family and that I really wanted to make photography (which I'd always considered not "impressive enough") a career. But I think for a long time I was embarrassed to admit that I didn't care about being a lawyer anymore, and wasn't trying to be top of my field. That really what I want is to get out and be a photographer and have more time at home (and I'm okay with that!)

Yes. Downer answer, but I suffered from abuse as a child at the hands of a relative for a long time, and was really shut off as a result. I was 17 when I finally 'let it go' and told my parents everything, then cut my abuser and all my relatives who supported him and blamed me out of my life. Words cannot even describe the weight it was off my shoulders, I don't think I even realized how much that one thing was holding me back from being a whole person until afterwards. Now I don't hide who I am, I'm proud of all the parts of me (okay, well, realistically - most of them!) and what has led me to this point in my life, which is probably why I'm willing to be open about something like this on such a public forum!

@wonderstruck: i'm so sorry you went through that! you are so brave to talk openly about it now

i'm comfortable with who i am, i like who i am as a person, but there will always be parts of my life that will remain hidden. it's not because i'm embarrassed or ashamed, but there are things that would make other people uncomfortable, that effects that way they view/interact with you. it's completely understandable why that would happen, but i just don't want to feel penalized for things that aren't within my control or have others feel like they need to involve themselves or try to fix things that aren't for them to worry about. it's really hard for people to sit with someone they care about in times of distress & do nothing but be still with them, if i don't think they can't just be still with me & my pain, then i don't share it with them.

maybe once you've had time to distance yourself from things it's easier, i am pretty open about my past, but wounds that are fresh are harder to expose, they still haven't healed and can sting.