Do you compartmentalize your life?

Odyne

Odyne

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Do you keep different aspects of your life seperate? Do you have some people for certain parts of your life and others for other parts, and you don't have them mingle together?
 
Yes, and not intentionally. It's just the way things progress. Although I don't mind them intersecting but I think people like structure, and it's easier if you connect with them in one role because they may not feel comfortable interacting with you in others and may feel intimidated if they think they can't relate or interact comfortably with others in a different role than the one they are used to. I also think it makes people feel a bit "special" in some way to have a particular kind of connection with one person or group of people who they share that experience with, knowing that others may not be able to relate.

For example, I have work colleagues who I can talk to about certain things but can't with others who care about things. I have colleagues who are now friends from shared experiences in college/grad school. When I try to share experiences with those who are not from that area, it's harder to receive empathy because they won't understand, although maybe very supportive. It may also be a matter of setting boundaries.

Maybe we are comfortable occupying one particular role or showing only one side of ourselves in with one group and showing another side with other groups. Sometimes, you can't feel fully comfortable sharing all aspects in one aspect of your life, so you show or project one side, while you feel much more at ease with others in another. So, depends on the people, personalities, and roles.
 
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I would say I kind of end up doing so because it's more practical.
Some people have only learned specific pieces of information about me, due to context and time and other things.
And people react in complicated ways when they discover new things about me that I haven't had the time or space to convey to them properly.
It's just cleaner and more practical to have levels/zones of groups.
I don't try to hide anything though, my wish is for everyone to get to know me as fully as they are comfortable with.
With the exception of keeping some things to myself and my immediate family probably.

It's like @Gaze says, some people are just not going to be able to meet you on certain levels and share in certain things with you.
 
I try not to,but it seems people end up in boxes anyway. perhaps it s that different people fulfill different aspects of my needs. or maybe I enjoy different depths of relationships with various people. . like some I will go down the rabbit hole with, others, not so much. .
 
Odyne said:
Do you keep different aspects of your life seperate? Do you have some people for certain parts of your life and others for other parts, and you don't have them mingle together?
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Yep, sometimes intentional, most of the time, not so much. I think it happens sort of naturally in life, especially if you do a lot of activities(music, sports, video gaming, etc.). What I've found over the years is that you have to use your own judgement and determine if people in certain areas of your life will be compatible. It would be awesome if they could all mingle easily, but I've found that they don't always mix well. Lifestyle differences, differences in ideology, and interest in activities determine this, I think. Trust me, I've tried, lol!!

What could happen is everyone gets along well...or we all sit there and have really strained, awkward conversation because the interests between the two parties don't line up :unhappy:
 
Yeap. The only way to stay sane.

Lots of people have wildly different personalities. Trying to keep good relations with them all mean I have to section off parts of myself for various people.

A necessary evil but no one sees the full picture.
 
Oh, absolutely. Most of the time, it's nothing deliberate. The social circles won't naturally overlap and/or people won't have anything in common. Some people, though, I compartmentalize by design. For example, people who are aggressive networkers (*cough* those with MLM side hustles *cough*)
 
Aneirin said:
I try not to,but it seems people end up in boxes anyway. perhaps it s that different people fulfill different aspects of my needs. or maybe I enjoy different depths of relationships with various people. . like some I will go down the rabbit hole with, others, not so much. .
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I'm the same as you, pretty much. I try not to, but it just happens, organically so to speak.
 
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