Recently I accidentally came across the Experience Project website [EDIT: which has since been discontinued], a collective idea that allows folks to share, anonymously if desired, various experiences in their lives and connect with people who’ve been in similar situations or want to be in similar situations. It’s a great place for people who may feel lonely in either their desires or in their situations to find others to relate to. It’s also a great place to show off, flaunt adventures, make friends and connections, and just express.

In many ways, it’s akin to Facebook or any other social platform with the exception that it actively assists in being anonymous (as opposed to the former network which pushes to reveal as much of your public self as possible). The anonymity factor of the website (such as the ability to blur your profile pic) encourages folks to share and express more openly those thoughts that they generally hide.

It’s a great idea, in my opinion. For many people, there are no safe spaces to really express and unburden, except maybe in a therapist’s office. We feel judged and alone and afraid of what friends may think of us so we desperately need a place to let go. And strangers are less threatening audiences. A bonus is that these strangers on the Experience Project may be going or gone through similar.

Reading through a view of the experiences posted, I felt moved to respond, sharing some of my own experience and insight. As somebody who fully advocates non-judgement, allowing people to lead their own lives, expressing and engaging with the desires that move them, I offered support to those that were seeking it. And enjoyed the responses that followed. I love when people feel appreciated and happy; it strikes a core chord within me, with my own constant seeking of approval and acceptance.

I’d like to think that in many ways, my unconventionality helps inspire others to be more open and accepting of themselves, even when the world around them seems like it isn’t. To let people know that society is flawed, that it doesn’t nurture and support the dreamers and the different, even though it claims to. And that we, as the non-conformists, the radical, the obtuse, even as we don’t fit in, and haven’t carved our own niche, and haven’t found our place, we still belong.