Next up, in our annual trawl through other blog posts we’ve enjoyed… a lovely piece from “Olivia’s Secrets” discussing how the author got into “the scene”. (Note that a couple of the illustrations are NSFW):
I sat in the dark with so many other people that I couldn’t see. I felt like a kid on the playground. I sat by the wall in the shadows, all alone and looked at all the other kids, playing and laughing and having fun. They had the courage to say what they wanted to say. They had blogs, they had Twitter. I saw them as the popular kids and I so badly wanted to get to know them…
I guess I needed someone to say: “It’s okay, Olivia. You don’t have to be ashamed. What you’re feeling is perfectly normal.” And then I could go back to the wall and look at them but feel better, because even though I wasn’t “on the scene”, they knew I was there and they’d told me that if I wanted to, I could be part of them.
And then I stepped out of the shadows.
The conclusion’s great, too:
I have to say this; by coming out of the shadows, I became more confident. It helped me in my relationship and it helped me to be happier with myself. So if you’re out there and you’re lurking and you’re scared…you’re welcome here, and you’re welcome on all the other blogs too. It’s okay. You don’t have to be ashamed. Whoever you are, whatever you look like, no matter what you like or what your thoughts are about the world…you are welcome. We may all be different. But we have one thing in common, and that is kink. You don’t have to start a blog or a Twitter account and you don’t even have to comment…but you don’t have to be ashamed either. You’re never alone. Isn’t that amazing?
It’s the sort of post that really might give confidence to others who are toying with embracing their kinky side – and, as such, we loved it.