Several years ago, someone started up a program where you could mail your secrets to them on a postcard. Anonymously, in general. They could be about anything; love, sex. abuse, life, crime, family - you name it. And the postcards came in droves. Books have been published with these secrets, and there is a website where you can see the postcards on line.
They make for a spectacular read. Almost addicting. Some are funny, witty and wise. Others are heartbreaking and others are downright frightening.
Some examples:
"Sometimes I wish I would die under tragic circumstances while I'm still young so people will remember me for everything I could have been, instead of growing older and failing to live up to the expectations set for me. "
"I wish my mom wouldn't get so annoyed when I ask her about sex."
"I was raped by someone I was supposed to trust and no-one will believe me - not even my best friend: his wife."
"I hate how everyone thinks that all homosexuals are wonderful, strong human beings, and that's why we're fighting for their rights. The truth is that we're assholes and drug addicts and charity workers and Sunday school teachers just like the rest of you."
"I experimented with sex. With my brother. I'm terrified my children will do the same."
www.postsecret.com
The secrets go on and on. People admit they cried or threw up when making their postcards and how liberated, or sick, or scared, or happy they felt when they popped the card into the mail box.
The postcards themselves and mostly handmade and beautifully done - with honest and sometimes funny artwork.
If you'd like to mail off a card with your secret, the address is on the site.
Or you can anonymously share a secret here with us on Empowher, under this SHARE.
Tell Us
Why do you think it's so therapeutic to share a secret in this way? And why do you think people get so emotional about it?
What's YOUR secret?
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Add a Comment3 Comments
I think it is actually a great idea. I know in my life talking about issues or problems seem to make me feel better. There are always ‘skeletons’ that are too embarrassing or just something you wouldn’t want people to know about you that may make you feel better after telling a complete stranger anonymously.
Think about it…….you have a heavy chest due to something that happened in your life and after you tell someone, that heaviness is lifted and you are no longer carrying it around. It may be refreshing.
I am sure you know a secret of someone just like anonymous shared above. Even though it would hurt people, someone had to share their story with them. Amazing….how talking can be relief.
December 27, 2008 - 2:46pmThis Comment
It is something to imagine all those people, making their postcards, laboring over the words, staring at them once they're down on paper.
Just think about it. Something that you have carried with you for a long time, maybe years, maybe most of your life. It is something you think you just can't share. Either it seems horrible, or you think it makes you a bad person, or, like the one person said, no one believes you.
To be able to write it out, and see it on paper, probably cry over it a little, to put a stamp on it, and then to send it out -- dropping it into a public mailbox, knowing it will be read -- suddenly, you exist. Your secret exists. You have taken it out of you and sent it out in the world, which means you don't have to bear it by yourself any longer.
I read about a book once that someone did by collecting people's used to-do lists. What she found interesting about them was that they were almost always a combination of over-arching spiritual matters -- "Live for today" -- and mundane matters -- "Pick up the dry cleaning."
Here's the book: http://www.amazon.com/Do-List-Buying-Finding-Reveal/dp/1416534695/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230253907&sr=8-1
December 25, 2008 - 6:13pmThis Comment
Sharing secrets is therapeutic because it allows someone else to share in the "burden" of knowledge and lift us out of isolation. And also, sometimes in sharing secrets with others, we find that the things we thought were so horrible may not be so horrible to others. What a relief.
And my secret is that I know the secrets of someone who was relatively powerful. I could never air them - not even anonymously -- because I think they would hurt too many people.
December 25, 2008 - 7:26amThis Comment