I live my life in front of others, both online and offline. Most of us do.

Oh, I know we have limits. Some of us interact more on social media than others. Some definitely share more details than others. Personally, my goal is to live in an authentic way that encourages and equips other people, whether it’s online or offline. I don’t want to overshare and cause someone more hurt than is necessary, just as I don’t want to pretend everything is ice cream and sprinkles.

When we’re living life in front of others online and offline, there is no time that we are “off” everyday life. No matter if we’re in a crowd or by ourselves, we need authenticity. We need to be engaged, if not directly with people, with ourselves and, most importantly, with God.

Engaging with God and others is where our healing, joy, and peace happen. As much as we can rationalize our need to keep some things in the dark – referring to privacy when we’re really dealing with secrecy, and the two are very different – unhealthy growth happens in the dark. We certainly don’t need share everything with everyone; that’s not a healthy choice either. But authenticity isn’t about our own preference, sharing only with people who will affirm us, people give us enough space to hide our problems, people who will never ask us the tough questions and hold us accountable. We need honesty and compassion and forgiveness and confrontation.

Be engaged. It’s where life happens, and it changes us.