T.M.I.

T.M.I. in case you are wondering, stands for too much information. It's another way of expressing an what is commonly know as an overshare.

My question is this...what do you do when you are encountered with something like this?

Here's the scenario. Last week, an acquaintance of mine shared something with me that is well beyond the scope of something I should know. Suffice it to say, the information that was shared to me has the potential to hurt quite a few other people. This information is something that I am not comfortable knowing.

The problem is, I know the reason this person chose to share the information with me was to have a sympathetic ear. While I will always do my best to support a friend in their time of need (and I did have an open conversation with some candid thoughts as well as some general advice), I am still reeling from this little piece of information myself.

I did tell this person all of what I have shared above...that I will be there for them, but in the future, I would not like to be privy to this type of information. I also shared that I was a bit angry they had shared it with me...because, well really, I am supposed to walk around with knowing these things that I am not supposed to know and am not comfortable with it.

Here's a general rule I have come up with after all this...if this is something you would not feel comfortable knowing about someone else, than it is not something you should really share with someone else...it makes me feel like I too am carrying this burden.

Did this sound selfish? How should I handle this type of thing going forward? What would you do?

-Gina