For context, I'm from a Middle Eastern country with pretty judgy standards about certain interests. My friends are all English speaking guys who I've been with since 1st grade, and when I was younger, I was super keen on sharing every little interest I had with the people I actively spoke to, including my parents. I always sent or shared clips of YouTube videos that I found funny that literally nobody should care about, and it was probably really annoying.
I think I've grown way too insecure about that fact though, because since then I've been super secretive about newer hobbies that I'd developed, and I never really brought anything up to my friends. Both because of social norms and expectations, and how much of a damn yapper I was. I obviously still chat with my friends a lot, but I was always there just to joke around with them.
And instead of being open about the things I liked, I was too worried about being judged that I just lied a LOT. Like my friend randomly nags me about what my favorite song is, or even just a song I like, and I pretend that I can't think of anything. I've listened to 400+ albums and spent the last year learning music production, and I'm not saying that to seem “special” and “unique”, it’s to show how silly it is that I've kept all of that completely hidden.
It got to a point where I was being asked by my friends (and parents) what I do all day, which is pretty embarrassing when I don't have shit to say to them. My friends are the complete opposite of me, where they're actively trying to get each other into different things, whether it's music, anime, or whatever. I'm trying to change my approach nowadays though. I finished a long anime that my friends recommended to me (the first I'd ever watched), and I loved it. And it feels so good to finally have a common interest with all of them.
I don't really know how to "reveal" that I've been a huge music listener this whole time. I'm still kinda worried about them judging my taste or worse, pretending to like the music I make to be nice. I'm obviously overthinking it, but I don't know how to go about this at all. I know it’s easy to “just tell them," but how does one bring this up? I can’t think of a way of doing it without it being awkward.
I know how dumb this sounds. It’s not like I’m actively stressing about this too. I could go my whole life without telling them, but I’d just like to be less of a blank slate to them. That would be nice.
(sorry if this is too much of a vent !! I posted this somewhere else and I thought it would work here too!!!)