Open up

Open up

Today’s expression is a phrasal verb, “open up.” To open up is to express yourself more honestly and openly, to confide in people , or to talk about things that you might have kept private before.

Earlier in today’s lesson, I said that society is starting to open up about mental health care . What do I mean by that? In the past, people would not talk openly or freely about mental health issues. I’m speaking in general , of course. But it was very rare among friends, or certainly in the workplace , to talk about things like seeing a therapist , battling depression , or suffering from anxiety .

But society is starting to open up about such things. It’s now much more common to talk freely about such things. Even in the workplace, I have had conversations with several coworkers about issues like burnout , anxiety, feelings of not being good enough, not being able to keep up . I’m thinking back to the beginning of my work career, and I can’t imagine those things being discussed among colleagues back in the early 2000s.

Anecdotally , I would say that in the workplace, women are a little more likely to open up about such things than men. But that’s just based on my own example. However, we learned in Lesson 415, Bogotá’s “Calm Line” is getting men to open up about their feelings of jealousy in the relationships.

It can take some time before you’re comfortable opening up to someone. If you’ve recently married, then you know that two families have to come together and get along together. Sometimes, people open up to the new family member quickly: they quickly start to trust each other and confide in one another. But understandably , it can take time for some people to open up in a situation like that.

Did you see the Adele interview with Oprah Winfrey? It aired in November. During the interview, Adele opened up about her divorce , her new relationship, and the experience of parenting through it all. We say she “opened up” about those things because she talked more freely about things that had been private before.

Oprah has a talent of getting people to open up to her, doesn’t she? Maybe it’s because when Oprah had her regular show, she opened up about herself first with her audience.

JR’s song of the week

It’s Thursday, so JR has a song of the week. Today it’s “Somebody To You” by The Vamps, featuring Demi Lovato. It’s a really upbeat song, high energy. The line I like best is this one: Everybody’s [trying to] be a billionaire…but all I want to be is somebody to you.” I really like this one, so thanks JR. “Somebody To You” by The Vamps.

See you next time!

And that’s it for today’s Plain English. Have you tried any meditation or wellness apps before? If so, and if you’re comfortable sharing, let us know in our Facebook group at PlainEnglish.com/Facebook .

That’s all for today. We’ll be back on Monday with another lesson. See you then.