Is it easier to confess to strangers? Does it count?

This morning I woke up and realized that I forgot to read Post Secret last Sunday. OK, so it wasn’t an earth shaking revelation – it isn’t like I missed a job interview. But for some reason, I faithfully examine the secrets every week.

I’ve never submitted one. I’ve considered it, but I have no idea what I would want to write. What message is so personal, so important, that it needs to be viewed by the world? And if it is that important, why would I mail it to someone I don’t know, with only a slight chance of being selected at random to actually appear on the site? Obviously it is easier to create a blog – hence a captive audience.

Social media brings our confessions to the forefront. Everyone clamors for attention, spewing their most private, controversial, or intimate thoughts in an attempt to claw their way to the limelight. Scary Mommy, a website I discovered over a year ago, operates on a similar premise, but in real time, providing mothers the chance to escape their lives and commiserate for a few moments during the day.

Sometimes a secret post validates me. Its heartfelt confession lifts the feeling of isolation, if only for a fleeting moment. But when that moment passes, I’m left with no confidant or friend, back in the precarious situation that left me seeking anonymous confessions in the first place.

Why is it less daunting to open my deepest darkest secrets to a stranger than it is to those I care for most? Is it truly attention seeking, or is it that somewhere inside, I can’t confess my true self to those I love most because that tiny voice inside reminds me that no one will ever love the real me?

So today, I send out a different type of challenge. Think of your secret and then, instead of writing it down or illustrating it in some beautiful form, tell your spouse. Or tell your friend. Tell the person whom you want to love you. For once, be brave and vulnerable – not pretty, not preplanned, just real. Maybe you’re embarrassed of your body. Maybe you’re hiding something from your childhood. Maybe its your family. Or maybe it is just an emotion that you can’t contain. But instead of remaining anonymous, be present. Perhaps we could change the world by removing the barriers and confessing to each other.