a separate self

Bluebeard

This door you might not open, and you did;
So enter now, and see for what slight thing
You are betrayed.... Here is no treasure hid,
No cauldron, no clear crystal mirroring
The sought-for truth, no heads of women slain
For greed like yours, no writhings of distress,
But only what you see.... Look yet again—
An empty room, cobwebbed and comfortless.
Yet this alone out of my life I kept
Unto myself, lest any know me quite;
And you did so profane me when you crept
Unto the threshold of this room to-night
That I must never more behold your face.
This now is yours. I seek another place.

--Edna St. Vincent Millay
......

I think that it's important to be (at least a little) reserved. Hold just a bit back in your interactions with other people. Be old-fashioned.

This definitely applies online, where it's so easy to tell secrets while blanketed in anonymity. The thing is, your secrets are your secrets, whether the one you're telling knows you as Sarah Smith or CheesecakeHead, and they are a crucial part of what defines you. Keeping yourself to yourself allows you to make what may be one of the most powerful statements in the world--but this is not all that I am.

This is not all that I am.
The comic book industry is founded on the need to be more than anyone knows. It is a gift you can give yourself, simply by diversifying, by having many aspects to your life. And not sharing everything with everyone. It keeps things in a sense of proportion, so you can remember the world is bigger than this fight, this relationship, this loss.

You ought to give of yourself to other people. You ought to build deep and lasting friendships, to share your life and love with wonderful people. But set something aside--be it ever so small--so you can remember how big the world really is.

Pax
.....