Think aloud
At least once during our lives, we’ll have a chance to meet a guy who will open up to us. And most of us will have the same question in mind, “What does it mean when a guy tells you personal things about himself?“
Women tend to share more details from their life with their friends, people they like, or sometimes even someone they don’t know that well. However, men are a bit more careful when it comes to these situations.
When they are choosing the person who’ll get a chance to hear some personal things about them, most they do it carefully. They think about all the possible problems that may occur and whether they want to make themselves vulnerable or not.
That’s why they mostly share their private details with people they care about and someone they want to establish a deeper connection with. However, there are some other explanations why does a guy open up to you, and I prepared them all.
I also have a little surprise for you. I wrote something that will help you figure out what to do and what not to do when a guy tells you personal things about himself. Enjoy and try to remember these pieces of advice.
What does it mean when a guy tells you personal things about himself?
Let’s start with the meaning behind him sharing his secrets with you. If you want to make reading this even more fun, you can take a piece of paper or open the notes on your phone and type the reasons you think you’ll get to read here.
Then you can check how many of them you’ve guessed, and you can even send us the ones you would like to add to this list. Good luck!
1) He trusts you
The first thing we know for sure is that he trusts you. I already told you that most men are very careful when it comes to sharing details from their lives. That means that not many people know much about them.
Those are mostly their best friends or some of their family members. If he chose to share his life with you, then he probably spent the night before thinking whether you’re one of those special people who deserve to hear those things.
And congratulations! He decided that he can trust you, and men don’t do that often. They are much more careful than woemn, so he really thinks you’re someone who’s worth his time. And he appreciates you enough to share those private details with you.
2) He thinks you’re understanding and kind
When a guy tells you personal things about himself he definitely thinks you’re a kind person who is understanding and emphatic. It takes time for men to open up to someone, and when they finally decide to do so, they always make sure that it’s a person who has the characteristic I just mentioned.
Since you now know details from his life, he thinks you have every qaulity that he wanted to find in a person who’ll get to hear more about him. Especially if he was preparing to share some pretty difficult moments from his life with you.
3) He values your opinions
When a guy tells you personal things about himself that means that he values your opinion. Men consider many things their personal business. So something we might not consider that important is actually very important to them.
It might be about their favorite movie. If he opens up about a movie and tells you that it’s his favorite because of something that’s happened in his life and then asks you something about it, it means that he cares about your opinion.
He wants to share something from his life and he wants to hear what you have to say about it. This shows that he trusts you but is also interested in your opinion. The same goes for the songs, books, clothes, cities, or anything else that might come up as a topic.
4) He wants you to give him advice
If he decides to tell you about the problems he is facing or he already faced in his life, then he really values your opinions. If it’s the first option, and he is currently dealing with some tough situations, he shared it with you because he wants you to give him advice.
He already trusts you enough to tell you about it, so he trusts you to give him a good piece of advice too. And if he already faced those issues alone, then he wants to know whether he resolved them correctly or not.
He would like to know whether you would react differently. And if yes, why and how would you solve those problems? Try to be as kind as possible, because I already told you that he wants to share those details with someone who will be understanding.
5) He isn’t afraid to show you his vulnerable side
If he tells you something that made him the person he is today, then it means that he isn’t afraid to show you his vulnerable side. He feels that you are the kind of person who will hear him out and listen without judging.
Sharing personal details from our lives makes us feel vulnerable, both emotionally and mentally. It also makes us feel afraid of how the person on the other side will receive the information, and what will be their reaction to what we’ve just shared with them.
Yes, sharing is our choice but we are still aware of the fact that reaction is unpredictable and we don’t really know what will happen. And if he told you those secrets and he’s fine with feeling vulnerable when he’s next to you, then it means he feels so comfortable in your presence.
6) He would like to establish a deeper connection with you
When a guy tells you personal things about himself he would probably like to establish a deeper connection with you. I know it sounds like he would like to date you, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be like that. Maybe he wants to find a true friend.
Whatever the case, one thing is for sure. He feels comfortable sharing those details with you, and he wants you to know them. He hopes that those conversations will make your relationship different from the one he has with other people. Those who don’t know anything more about him than the things he has decided to present to them.
He wants to separate you from them, because, in his mind, you’re worth doing it.
7) He thinks you’re smart and mature
We mostly don’t share our deepest struggles or our favorite moments with every person that we meet. This is especially true when we’re talking about fears, or traumas that we have from the past. People find it hard to trust other people because they are not sure about their intentions.
Nobody would like to feel bad after opening up to someone. Some people are even so horrible that they find others’ pain as something that’s okay to laugh at. Especially when they don’t know how to react any different way.
They make inappropriate jokes or attempt to comfort someone by saying that they’re not the only ones going through something. Or use the phrase that made PitBull popular. You probably heard about it “Been there, done that“.
If he chose to share the details of his life with you, then this guy trusts you and believes you’ll keep his secrets safe.
8) He wants to spend more time talking to you
When a guy tells you personal things about himself, it simply means that he wants to spend more time talking to you. He likes spending time with you and he’s trying to find a way to do it more often.
He probably knows it’s easy to talk about the topics that everybody talks about. Movies, music, books, sports, art, traveling, or something else that the two of you are interested in. However, he wants to be different and he wants you to remember him.
That’s why he chose to share some of his personal things with you. Those might not be some of his biggest fears or dreams. But, if he still revealed something a person wouldn’t normally talk about, then it’s probably because he wants to talk to you more often.
9) He wants to get to know you better
Another reason why he’s sharing his personal info with you is that he wants to get to know you better. I know it might sound confusing at first but it’s actually very easy to understand. By sharing things from his life, he is hoping that it will motivate you to share something about yourself too.
Let’s say he told you about the biggest goals he wants to achieve in life. He won’t expect you to do the same if he sees that you aren’t comfortable sharing it. However, he will hope that you’ll at least say something about your previous plans and goals.
Whatever he decides to share with you, he will expect to hear from you too. Don’t think that he’s doing that because he’s nosy. He probably has only the best intentions and he wants to get to know you better.
10) He likes you
When a guy tells you personal things about himself it’s also possible that he’s doing it because he likes you. He’s confused and he doesn’t know how to attract you. So he wants to impress you and tell you as many things about himself as possible.
He’s doing that because wishes to get to know you better too. And he hopes that if you hear many things about him and his life, you’ll like what you’ve heard. He thinks that it will ake your relationship even stronger.
If you like him too, don’t be afraid to share something from your life. And don’t be afraid to give him a few signals, so he knows he can make the next move.
What to do when a guy tells you personal things about himself?
Okay, now that we know why he opened up to you, there’s something that’s still a mystery. And that’s what to do when a guy tells you personal things about himself? Do you think you would react well in a situation like that?
Or maybe you already had a chance to find yourself talking to a guy who decided to share some pretty private details with you. Do you think you handled it well? I trust you, but let’s check it together.
1) Listen to him carefully
If a guy shows you that he trusts you and he tells you something he wouldn’t tell just anyone, then you need to show him that you respect him. And the best way to do it is to make sure he knows you’re listening to him carefully.
And by listening carefully I mean that you’re fully present in the moment. Try to nod while listening to him or even say something like “Yes. What happened next? How did that make you feel?” or anything else that comes to your mind.
When he’s done talking ask him more questions about it or share your opinion on the things he’s talked about. That way you’ll help him feel nice about choosing you as a person who’ll get to know him that well. And he will know that you’ve listened to his story carefully.
2) Try to help him
When a guy tells you personal things about himself, especially if it’s something about the issues he’s currently facing or the problems he already dealt with, then he hopes you’ll try to help him. You don’t have to be his therapist, but there are some things you can do to help him out.
The first thing is something I just mentioned, and that’s to listen to him carefully. If you do that correctly then you’ll know how you would react in the situations he was in. Or at least you’ll form some kind of an opinion about it.
Then you’ll be able to try and help him. You can try giving him a piece of advice you think will be helpful at that moment. Or you can share some similar situations from your past if you feel comfortable doing that.
3) Show him that you care
You should also show him that you care. I’m not saying that you should act like he’s your favorite person in the world, especially if he’s not. But if he chose to share some private details from his life with you, then that means that he really values you.
And if you sat there and listened to him carefully, it shows that you also care about him. So make sure he feels that. It is something everyone would like to feel. Having a person who cares about your emotions and everything you’re going through is one of the best things in the world.
Tell him that he can contact you if he wants to talk again (but only if you are willing to listen to him again, don’t lie to him!) You can even show that you care by behaving nicely, and by that, I mean that you should stay careful about the things you’re planning to say.
4) Think before you speak
And that’s why we’re here. When a guy tells you personal things about himself that means that he’s willing to open up to you. At first, you might not look at it as something special. But guys rarely do that if they aren’t dating you or you aren’t one of their best bros.
So if you’re hanging out with him, and he starts telling you something really personal you should pay attention to your behavior. Some things that you hear might sound weird to you or you’ll think that it’s too good to be true. But don’t interrupt him and start investigating his story.
Always think before you speak. Because if he’s sharing those little details he never shared before, he’s probably telling the truth. And if you say something inappropriate it will probably hurt him a lot. So listen to him carefully and then take your time to think about the things you want to say to him later.
What not to do when a guy tells you personal things about himself?
And the last thing we need to learn is what not to do when a guy tells you personal things about himself. If you decide not to listen to me, and do the things I’ll mention below, you might hurt his feelings without even realizing it.
You might also push him away from you because he’ll think that you don’t care about him, or he might even think you’re rude. These pieces of advice are really easy to follow, so I don’t think it should be a problem for you.
1) Don’t use your phone while he’s opening-up
Imagine you’re talking to someone. You’re telling them about something that’s happened to you and made you the person you are today. It’s a situation that is very important to you and you finally found a person who’s worth hearing about it.
At first, that person is listening to you, but just as you’re about to tell them the most important detail of the story, they pick up their phone. You think it’s just for a second but they start texting someone and say something like “No, no, continue, I can multitask.“
How would that make you feel? Probably sad, disappointed, and betrayed. And I’m sure you don’t want other people to feel that way in your presence. So don’t use your phone while someone is talking to you.
2) Don’t tease him about it
I already told you that when a guy tells you personal things about himself it means that he trusts you. He thinks you’re kind, understanding, and mature enough. So the thing he definitely doesn’t expect from you is that you’ll take advantage of the things he’s shared with you.
Whatever he told you, you should never use those things to joke with them. Even though you sometimes think that humor might help him, it’s definitely not appropriate to joke about someone else’s problems if they’re not doing the same.
If you respect him and everything he says it shows that the relationship between the two of you is mature. No matter if it’s romantic or platonic.
Maybe he’ll even share some of his insecurities with you and if you use them to tease him it might lead to some big problems. Mental health is something that we should take care of, and these things are putting it at risk.
3) Don’t minimize his problems
No matter how small some problem might seem to you, you should always keep in mind that every person is different.
Let’s say that someone lost their favorite hairband and made a huge deal about it. At first, you probably thought that it was not important at all. But what if I tell you that one sentence will change your mind? It was actually a hairband they got from their grandmother who sadly passed away.
Now you probably feel bad for thinking it was a small problem. So always keep in mind that every person is fighting their own battles.
Something that sounds really scary to us, might sound very easy to someone else. But something that we don’t consider a problem, might be a huge one for somebody else.
4) Try not to make him feel uncomfortable
When a guy tells you personal things about himself he is paying attention to how you’ll react to the things you hear. And he will notice even the smallest of details. So pay attention to your behavior.
I already told you that some things might not sound as important to you as they are to the person talking about them. However, put yourself in their shoes and imagine how you would feel if the person you’re talking to decides to roll their eyes or makes a face.
It is something that would definitely make you feel uncomfortable. So be careful and don’t do it to someone who trusts you and a person who decided to share about their life with you.
5) Don’t share details from his life with your friends
We all like to talk to our best friends about everything that’s going on in our lives. And it’s totally normal. However, something that we should definitely avoid doing is sharing details from his life with the people from our life.
It’s something he decided to share with us, and us only. So why break his trust and betray him like that? No matter how much or how little you care about that person, you should always avoid doing this.
If you talk to your friends about everything, you can just tell them that he shared some private things with you that you don’t feel comfortable sharing with them, and they will definitely understand. It will even make them feel nice because they’ll know that they can trust you.
Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of traveling through a man’s mind. Now you know the possible reasons behind his opening up to you. You know how to react do it, and you also learned what not to do when a guy tells you personal things about himself.
I hope you had fun reading this and I hope you’ll keep this article in your mind the next time a guy decides to share some personal details with you. See you soon with the next topic!
