Hey, Mario!
If you don't mind, I'll join with my thoughts.
I conciously decided to put my face out from the start for basically two reasons:
Accountability - I felt if I hid under a fake avatar, I'd not be as commited to the detox. I saw that as another escape. This was the main reason I put this picture on my profile and had my first and last name on it. I was ashamed of myself, but I was tired of running away. If I tried to hide this side of myself (as I had been doing for the last two years, lying to my wife and immediate friends about how I spent my free time), it would eventually find a way to creep back and haunt me. When I think back now, revealing had a huge impact on my success on the detox.
Leaving my comfort zone - Going public was something I hadn't done for the last 10 years or so. My social network accounts were not updated with news about me or the things I cared, though I logged in everyday to read and comment on friend's posts. I used to rationalize reasons to why whatever I might share would be irrelevant to everyone else. On the other side, I felt lonely here in Japan. I remember the exact feeling before clicking "Submit" on my first post. Felt like speaking in front of a huge audience about a topic I had no knowledge whatsoever. Anyway, whatever was that I was doing, was obviously not working on making me happier. So I decided to do the opposite and show my face.
With that said, I feel embarassed to read my own journal here (and that's why I haven't touched it in a long time). Embarassed - not ashamed. I'm actually proud of it. There is a bunch of people out there who can't face their demons in the eyes. People who can't see the strenght of what we do here are either too young or too naive.
I made my story public to my followers on Facebook when I finished the detox. It created a buzz for a while, people sent me messages, etc. It is there for everyone to see, and I still get a couple of views per week (it was posted on Medium). But there is no reason I'd bring that up again, unless someone I know asks for help. This is not something I'd like to focus on at the moment, but eventually I'd like to put effort on bringing more awareness to it within my circles of influence. I just have other, more urgent matters I need to deal with.
Be true to yourself and to what you want to do. Everything else will adjust in one way or another..