It's become a ritual of sorts that every Saturday night (or Sunday morning) I check the Postsecret blog and read the new secrets. I did this a few years ago and then forgot about it, and then went to a Postsecret event on campus during my undergrad and started checking the blog again.
Many a times I've considered sending in a secret but quickly dismissed the idea for a variety of reasons, from not being comfortable sharing my secrets (yes, even anonymously) to how would I decorate the card? Regardless, I've never sent in a secret and I'm not sure that I ever will. But reading other people's secrets puts my own into perspective.
Reading the secrets tonight I realized just how little we all know about one another. Yes, we have close family members, close friends, and so on, but do we ever really share all that we have to give? I know very few people know a lot about me, and I'm just more comfortable with it being that way. I have a very close family and a group of great friends, but I don't share nearly as much as I could, or maybe even should.
I don't appear to anyone shy, or reserved, as far as I'm aware. I'm the friendly, outgoing, outspoken one and that's how I believe most people see me. But between Jessica I know versus the Jessica I show is quite the discrepancy. I don't mean to say I am fake, I am intending on deceiving those around me, but I am a lot different on the inside than I am on the outside.
But, the more I think about it, I feel that a lot of people could probably say the same thing. I don't think we ever really KNOW someone, the way we know ourselves. I think it's a sad truth because I think the world would be a very different place if we were honest with others, but more importantly with ourselves.
If we took less time reflecting on ourselves and spent more time sharing ourselves with others, we may be able to gain the perspectives we so need to be comfortable with who we are, deep inside. Truly laying everything out on the table would hopefully bring a new closeness between people, so long as everyone recognized the need to care about those other than themselves.
