Okay, so my blog this semester didn’t really quite go as planned, but it turned out okay!
My site, Share Anonymously, didn’t really kickoff like I thought it would. This is my fault for not sharing it more with others on social networking sites or around campus, but at the beginning it did get a fair amount of posts. I enjoyed reading what other people had to say and I think I did a good job giving advice and feedback to those in need. It was a great starting point for my blogs, where I investigated topics like Disney, Sororities and Fraternities, Alcohol, the Internet and Relationships. All of these included concepts revolving around secrecy and anonymity and I even learned about my own psychological and biological aspects of secret sharing!
I think what I’ve taken away most from these posts is that secrets bring people together. I’m sure this seems kind of backwards, but sometimes the things we keep hidden about ourselves are the things that connect us to each other. We all have problems and we all make mistakes and we are all afraid of the skeletons in our closets… but sometimes good can come out of sharing parts of ourselves. Learning new things about others creates a sense of intimacy. Sharing secrets means advice and trust and the occasional learning that not everyone is worthy of a secret… but that’s important to building long lasting friendships, too.
Secrets are normal and human and part of all of us, no matter how much we hide them. I appreciate anonymity because it gives me the opportunity to express who I am. I have my own private blog that I write in (hey, I guess this is some kind of secret confession…) and it helps me sort out my own, crinkled paper-ball thoughts. I guess a more concrete secret of mine is that I like to write without purpose. It frightens me how sometimes a seemingly unfocused string of thoughts explains a deeper consciousness. I write creatively to figure myself out. Maybe now that I’ve shared that, you think differently about me. Or maybe you don’t. Or maybe we have something in common. Or maybe we’re more different than you thought.
Things we don’t blatantly share with others make us who we are. We are not just what we appear to be but the things that we hide as well.