I recently found a copy of "PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death, and God" at my favorite local thrift store. You can tell is was a coffee table favorite: the red and yellow of the cover is sun-faded and the condition is what I would call "passable" even if I couldn't pass it over myself. Thumbing through it when I brought it home was very nostalgic for me. This particular book was published in 2009-- the same year I graduated from highschool. It is the fifth installment in a series that started in 2004. Each PostSecret book is part of a group art project-- secrets of desire, humiliation, regret, fear are shared anonymously in the form of postcards and multimedia collage. Although this is the the first PostSecret book I have ever owned, I have fond memories of a couple of friends sharing thier copies with the lunch table or bringing them out to flip through at sleep overs. I was even inspired to make a few of my own, but I never sent them in. When you are growing up and feel a little different from most of your peers, reading a collection of annoynmous deepest (and sometimes darkest) secrets makes you feel a little less "other". I found it comforting to know that I was not alone in having something I felt that I needed to hide-- most people carry at least one secret that is painful, shameful, or embarrassing with them through life.
This community art project is on-going. You can read select secrets posted on Instagram @postsecret, or on the website: https://postsecret.com.
This PostSecret book-- a happy thrift store find and relic from my teenage years-- reminded me of the power there is in sharing what has been weighing us down. How much lighter we feel after we have put the thought into words-- after we have layed .our burdens down. This is one of the reasons we go to therapy, right? It's why we journal or have heart-to-hearts with our bestfriends or our partner. It's why we call our moms if we are having a bad day. Just the act of expressing something heavy can make us feel lighter and help us move on.
As a mom, I can tell you that being a mom is hard. If you are a mom too-- I don't have to tell you-- you know this-- you are living this. Also as a mom, I have my fair share of secret thoughts and regrets that I haven't shared with anyone (even my beforementioned bestie, partner, or mom). I am fairly open person, but I am worried about the judgement and shame I might feel if I share something to raw. This is why, in the spirit of PostSecret, and because I believe wholeheartedly in collective catharsis, I opening up the form below for annonymous mom-secret sharing.
I will be updating this article with all the secrets shared in a simple bulleted list. No need to get out your glue sticks or sharpies, or find a stamp. Everyone's secret will be listed without preference, judgement, ranking, or shame. I hope you find reading through this list healing and if you decide to share a secret, thank you!
Anonymous Mom-Secrets