REAL LIFE

Secrets

By Emily, age 19, Newfoundland
Sweet Designs Featured Writer





I'm sure a lot of you have heard of Post Secret*. For those of you who haven't, I'll enlighten you. Post Secret is a community mail art project website run by Frank Warren. People anonymously send in secrets on post cards and some of them end up on the website, while others end up in the books that Frank Warren has published.

I check the website religiously every Sunday, looking for secrets that sound like I wrote them and somehow relate to my life. Secretly it's a relief to realize you're not alone in the world and that someone else has the same problems or accomplishments as you.

Today, as I read the latest batch of secrets, I slowly came to the realization that I have a lot of secrets. I had never considered myself as someone who had too many, but in fact I keep a lot.

First, I thought about all of the secrets I keep from my parents. They really do think that I'm pretty much a perfect child. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad person, but I do a lot of things they wouldn't approve of.

Then I thought of all the secrets I keep from everyone else. Most people seem to think that I'm an open book or that I'm always happy and cheerful, or that I'm the most confident person in the world. In reality, even though I am generally a happy-go-lucky person, I have a disease that controls my life** and I'm not confident at all.

Finally, I thought about all the work that it took to keep these secrets. I lie to people, and it's become a hassle to keep up with all the lies. If I just told people the truth, they wouldn't think the things they do about me, whether good or bad. They would know who I am and not the person I appear to be.


* For more on Post Secret, read Christina's July '07 article
** For more on Emily's struggles, click on the Gold Star and read her previous articles.



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February & March Magazine Issues

March 15, 2012

The February and March issues of Sweet Designs Magazine are now online, featuring a combined 53 new articles and features!!

- Cover: Stephanie Lynn reflects on 5 years
- Cover: India (of Darn-licious knitwear)
- Life in the dumps (moving in with my bf)
- The difference between men and women
- Angels among us (parts 1 and 2)
- Arts graduates & the dark night of the soul
- Triple threat (how I survived my teen yrs)
- Dating isn't easy (my true story)
- How to turn not-so-great gifts ... (fashion)
- Ten reasons to love being single
- Taking the big leap (college)
- Valentine's Day (not what you'd expect!)
- The last of the cold (hopefully) (fashion)
- A month full of love
- Ten tips for successful airline travel
- Reasons I love writing for SDM
- Who needs love?
- They're not all the same
- The life I'm glad I don't have (fiction)
- Professional dress/ finding Fendi (fashion)
- An airport anniversary: a true story
- Inappropriate Facebook photos
- The perks of a big city (college)
- A night(mare) to forget (part 2)
- The Anita Blake series (book review)
- Saving June by Hannah Harrington (book)
- Under the Mesquite by GG McCall (book)
- The Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (book)
- If I Stay by Gayle Foreman (book review)
- My sweetheart (original poetry)
- Isn't it funny (original poetry)
- The stranger (original poetry)
- A winter wonderland (original poetry)
- One night valentine
- The thick envelopes (college acceptance)
- Southern love
- Healthy hair and vitamins
- It's a date (dating idea alternatives)
- The 30 hour famine
- School's out forever!
- Marching right back into spring? (fashion)
- Dear John
- When TV shows depict your life
- 3 Fun ways to rock spring's hottest trends
- Neglected teeth
- Starting something new
- Guy movies
- To hesitate or dive in?
- Deadly, by Julie Chibbaro (book review)
- Beastly, by Alex Flinn (book review)
- I don't care (poetry)
- Together, alone (poetry)

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