Self Disclosure Essay Sample

The exercise in self disclosure was an interesting one that got me to think sincerely about how deep my relationships with other people are. Generally speaking, I consider myself a fairly private person, and even in my close friendships I do not reveal a lot of information about my own life. Because I knew this, I was expecting that all four of my diagrams would be somewhat shallow in their relationships. I think this would be pretty obvious to anybody who looked at my diagrams, because in most cases my disclosures did not go past the first or second ring.
What was most interesting to me was the differences in depth with my parents and close friends, however. With my parents, there were several sections where I did disclose a lot. For example, my parents obviously already know a lot about my family and upbringing, as well as my health and medical history. Looking at the chart, though, I could see that I was not necessarily open with them in other areas, such as my political views and activities I do. With my friends, though, these things were more open and I was less open in some other areas like my upbringing. I think it would be nice to be able to be myself more in both of these ways, so that I did not have to feel like I was being two different people.
The biggest thing I felt I wanted to change, though, was how open I am about my weaknesses, desired skills, and personality in general. Filling out the charts made it very clear that I do not really talk to anybody about these things much at all, not even my close friends or parents. I think, even though I am usually comfortable not sharing information about myself, it would help me grow, and help me have closer, longer lasting relationships with other people, if I shared a bit more about what I want out of life and what I have trouble with.