Guilty pleasures – Postsecret
One of the most popular blogs listed in the Technorati top 100 is Postsecret. So of course I had to check it out to see what the fuss was about. I’m glad I did, because it’s now something I really don’t want to miss out on each week. It only takes about 5 minutes to look at and read all the secrets, so I never have to feel too guilty about it. And hey, it has no calories! (Sorry for going all girlie there for a sec.)
Almost every week there is a secret there that makes me cry. Sometimes a lot. Every now and then a secret will freak me out for several days and make think long and hard about how I’m living my own life. Sometimes the secrets bring things that I don’t like about myself into stark focus, or conversely, they make me realize how freaking much I have to be thankful for. Sometimes the secrets make me giggle — I’ll never forget the one from a few weeks ago: “When my buddy plays my guitar out on my porch, I pray that my neighbors don’t think it’s ME!”
No matter what, my 5 minutes with Postsecret are always a moving experience. There are accounts of people whose lives have changed dramatically for the better because of what they read there. So that’s why I’m telling you about it here, just in case…
(If you visit, beware that it’s not always work-safe.)
Oh, and if a moving emotional experience is not your bag, you can always check out one of my other guilty pleasures: the puppies section at
cute overload 
Popularity: 1% [?]
Hi Lori
Cute puppies ARE an emotional moving experience…
especially my beloved (black) GSD, “Raven” !!!
Adios !
I absolutely LOVE postsecret. It’s always the first thing I do… every Sunday!
Sometimes it’s emotional, but some secrets are also very funny. It reminds me to order the books.
Hmm interesting stuff there.. might check that out more often
wow there are some very heavy secrets in there.
I wonder doesn’t everyone have a secret, even a little one?
Wow … To be honest, I’m not sure if I want to visit that site again. Apart from the “guilty pleasure” of voyeurism, it also reminds me of all the hurt in this world. I’m bad enough taking care of hurt as it is.
I’ll check out the puppies now…
Speaking of guilty pleasures by the way.. I have one too and people reading this might be interested in it.. I participate in it.. you dont have to but it’s still cool to look at. And it’s a guilty pleasure because I actually dont really have to time for it but I do it anyway
Anyway behold the exquisite corpses http://www.anexquisitecorpse.net
Kristof, I used to feel kind of weird about it too, actually. But then I realized some things that changed that for me:
1) The Postsecret people WANT the world to see their their secrets (that’s why they send them in).
2)Many of the secrets just make me want to be a better person, particularly in my relationships with others (plenty of room for improvement, believe me).
3) It reminds me that people can be carrying around all kinds of invisible burdens in their lives (fear and pain and worries), burdens that make them act like jerks. So every week it’s a reminder that I shouldn’t be so quick to interpret jerk-like behavior as a sign of overall jerkitude. Maybe someone just needs a hug
But puppies are awesome too. The other day when I got home from work after one of my famous looooong days, I was feeling so drained and tired and frustrated and utterly hopeless…ugh, it was HORRIBLE. Two neighbors were standing chatting outside my entryway; one of them had a little puppy. I got up the courage to ask if I could pet it. That puppy was SO EXCITED to see me, all wriggly and licky and sniffly, like I was the most fantastic person in the world. That one minute with that little puppy made things immensely better, for a little while at least. So this week when I read the “buy a puppy” card on Postsecret, it totally resonated with me. I wanted to find that person and give him or her a big hug (and then go shop for puppies)
“A burden shared is half a burden.”
That most certainly is a very positive way to look at it, Lori. And it’s true that most jerks have some burden to bear – still, we all have our burden and we’re not all jerks (all the time). It’s a given that the world would most definitely be better off with more hugs. Maybe you/we should set-up a “Have you hugged a jerk today” community
Funny, isn’t it, how the internet broadens your perspective on the world and narrows it at the same time. Just like you petting that puppy and then reading that postcard: what would the odds of that have been without the internet.
Which leads me to a totally different and completely unrelated issue: do emoticons count as punctuation? Do you need to place a full stop after a sentence if you end it with an emoticon or not? I wonder
I’m off to my beauty sleep! Thanks for the insight!
Oh wow !! I’m really happy to see this here. The person that started that is from my hometown of Germantown, Maryland. There have been a few articles about them in the newspaper here.
Boy, am I an idiot. I just remembered I own his book
This is the second series I’ve look at and I’m growing addicted. Looking at other people’s misery actually inspires me to be a better person. Thank you.
The one that says something about every minute being a chance to turn it all around really got to me this week. Actually, the secrets are not all about misery (there are at least three good ones this week). I’d say that misery, pain and regret are the most common themes, but there are almost always happy ones or ones that remind you to do those positive-but-oh-so-scary things in life before it’s too late. I can never have enough reminders about THAT.
Ooooh…… I believe this is the second book that has just been released. I’m going to have to get it for my daughter for Christmas.