There is freedom in having parts of your life nobody can misunderstand publicly.

Anything visible can be read wrongly, and there is nothing you can do about the reading. A part of your life that nobody knows about is safe from that entirely, and there is a real lightness in it. No one is forming a version of it, no one is discussing it, and you are not managing an interpretation. Some things are just yours.

Keep at least one significant part of your life outside general knowledge. A practice, a friendship, a project, a place you go. Notice how much easier it is to hold than the parts under observation.