Dirty Little Secrets Exposed: The PostSecret Phenomenon

I first heard about PostSecret through a friend when I was reading one of her books entitled, "PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives" by Frank Warren. I was immediately drawn in by the book cover which simply looked like a package that was getting ready to be mailed to a place called "PostSecret." After going through the book page by page, I noticed that every page contained images of postcards that had been sent in from random people at different times that displayed their secrets in a creative and unique form. As I read each decorated postcard that contained an anonymous secret, I felt like I was part of the secret as I read it. I don't know about you, but reading someone's secret felt exciting and dangerous at the same time. The fact that it was a "secret" explained that not just anyone was allowed to know. But this confused me because if these were someone's secrets, why would they want it publicly published in a book that has already had worldwide success? Sure it's anonymous, but the fact that the secret is out there in the open may seem a little discomforting. Some of the secrets I read were a little silly like, "I like popping pimples," or "I like the smell of my own farts." While other secrets were so mind-blowing and surprising like, "Sometimes I wish I had lung cancer so my mom would quit smoking," or "My dad was a drug dealer. So much for bring your kid to work day."

These secrets all create another type of world where people can escape reality for a period of time and write down all the secrets that they keep inside and send it to PostSecret to be published. I find that this is a way of releasing one's troubled, comical, or joyous emotions, to feel exhilarated once something so jocular or so serious has come off your chest There are so many adjectives to describe how one feels, yet most people keep these feelings inside. PostSecret is not only a virtual world, http://postsecret.blogspot.com/, but it also serves as a world in which one doesn't have to be afraid of letting everything out, or just some secrets at least. We all know that some secrets are better to be kept inside.

I recently found out that PostSecret has a Twitter account, http://twitter.com/postsecret, where people tweet their secrets to PostSecret. Lately, there has been so many ways to send your secret that there is always going to be a way to share your secret. Thanks to the internet, you can send your secrets via tweet, via video on Facebook, or via email. Or you can take the old-fashioned route and mail it via letter.

So, in awe of this phenomenon, here are some "secrets." Enjoy.