Outed

Outed

A friend of mine used that word this past week.  It wasn't used in the specific setting for which the term was coined, but the intent of the term was the same.  She was using it to describe an aspect of her life that had been put into the public view, and about having that aspect shared by an audience that did not already know of it.  She is moving, starting a new life, a new path, returning to what had been known.  In doing so, she was apparently hoping to keep the particular aspects and circumstances of her recent widowhood off the screen and low key until after she had settled into her new home.  Such will not apparently the case, for someone passed the information on ahead.

It made me wonder about the term in general, and how it could be applied to others of us and aspects of our lives and thoughts.
Outed.
The opposite of being inside, or being close held.  The opposite of contained and controlled, of instead being known and displayed. Not released or freed, with the connotations of conscious decision and control, but exposed to others in a way outside of our control or desire.

Beyond the limits of the original use and origin of the term, I was struck by how many of us likely have things that we don't want outed?  Things we don't want pulled from the closet and thrust into the light of the day?  The term itself implies something that is not ready to be shared, although the reasons why that could be are numerous. Maybe it is timing?  Pain?  Embarrassment? Shame? Re-defining? Whichever, it is that aspect we are not interested in having shared, not desiring of having to acknowledge.

I hope it goes well for her in her new location, that the outing doesn't impact her view of the new start, or their view of her.