Secrets

I made this poster to signify the feelings one feels when
keeping/sharing a secret.

I recently performed a little experiment. I was inspired by a man named Frank Warren, the creator of Postsecret.com. It's a place where people can post secrets that they have...and it's completely anonomous. I wanted to try it out for myself, see if people would be honest with me. So I asked the people in my psychology class to write down a secret and put it into a folder (which I have dubbed "The Secret Folder"). Almost every single person put in a secret. Here are a few of the ones that stood out to me most:

"I smell my cat."

"I cut a picture of the boy I liked in 3rd grade out of the yearbook and carried it around in a heart-shaped locket."

"I lied to my friends to make myself look cool."

"I pretend to be happy all the time, but in reality I just want to sit and cry."

"3 years ago, my dad told me he hated me and I was worthless. I still believe him to this day."

As I was reading these, there were some funnt ones, but for most, I was in shock. People were being so honest! I have no idea who these people are, but they have amazing, soulfull secrets. I want to give every person in my class a hug and tell them everything will be okay, just so that I could possibly comfort the people with heart-wrenching secrets. I was in total awe that people would be so honest with me--that one girl in their psychology class.

So I thought about why people would do that--be so honest in giving up their secrets. And I realized that maybe the idea of sharing a secret without the fear of being judged is the motivator. Though the confidant (me) does not know the person, that person knows that somebody knows. And I think that's what matters: they know they are not alone in sharing the burden of a secret.