Over the last few days I decided I would collect secrets from different people. The first thing I noticed when I would ask people to share a secret was that everyone would say, “Secret? I don’t have secrets, I’m an open book.” It was once i clarafied my question that a conversation would begin.
My question: “Would you share a secret with me?”
My question clarified: “Would you share a cute secret you kept as a child, or you do something you hate because someone you love, loves it.”
Once I clarified my question, every person I asked would smile in contemplation, remembering the things they did as a child or did for the people they loved.
Some of the secrets I received:
- When I was younger, I was sitting in the middle of a yurt, eating ice cream. While I was eating my ice cream, I lightly touched the pole in the middle of the yurt. After a few minutes, one of the guides told us not to touch the pole because the people believed you would get seven years of bad luck if you touched it. Everyone began laughing, but not me. I didn’t tell anyone, but I don’t have the bad luck anymore.
- When I was in daycare, I wanted to play at the play dough table but there were no chairs. My little brain thought the best thing to do was to take a handful of play dough. The whole day I held it in my hand. When I left to go to dancing, I didn’t know what to do so I just took it with me. When I got home, I thought I was a criminal for stealing the play dough and through it under the bed. Several years later, my mom found it under my bed, and laughed when I told her what happened.
- When I was younger, my older brother and his friend had left to go to a party. A few hours later, my brother drunkenly called me to unlock the window in the second floor bathroom so they could sneak in. I didn’t know his friend was with him, and he was kind of cute, and I was standing their in my pjs watching them climb through the window. I helped them to his room, and helped them make places for them to sleep. As I was going back to bed, my brother sat on my bed and drunkenly said, “you are the best sister ever, i love you so much.” He kissed my forehead and then left. The next morning, they both got in trouble with my mom but neither one of them told her I helped them sneak in.
- For about two weeks in the third grade I would take money from my mom’s purse while she was in the shower. I would use the money to buy candy.
- Senior year of high school. my friends and I accidentally started a tradition of putting our used utensils in the locker of this kid we didn’t really like. He never used it. By the end of the year, there were so many spoons and forks, we could barely open the locker door without them all spilling out.
- My elementary school was built like a long hallway, with classrooms on each side of the hallway. In the middle of summer, my friend and I were riding our bikes and we saw that the doors to the school were opened. We assumed the school was empty so we rode our bikes from one end of the school to the other. It wasn’t until the first day of school that a janitor confronted me and told me he saw us riding our bikes. I never told my parents.
- My freshman year of high school, as my friend and I were parking, two of our friends drove up to us and told us to skip school with them. We looked at each other and decided to go. We drove to our friends house and each of us took a turn calling the school and pretended to be the other’s parent so we wouldn’t get into trouble. I don’t know if my mom knows or not.
- Sometimes I tell my mom “I’m sorry,” even when I am not sorry.
- When I was younger, I took my brother’s fish out of the tank to take it on a walk. Once I realized he died, I just put him back. My brother cried for a whole day and I never told him it was me.
- While I was at work, I made a batch of coffee but it was too weak for me so I put more coffee grinds in the machine and just used the weak coffee instead of water. Apparently you aren’t supposed to do that. My boss sent out an email a week later asking who did it and I just pretended it wasn’t me.
- For my accounting class, we were required to print all of the notes and bring them to class. My teacher would send several chapters out at once and while I was at work I decided to print them out. I printed over 50 pages of notes in color. After my boss received the bill for the printer, he asked who was printing in so much color. I didn’t say anything and now there are restrictions on color printing.
- I have this one coworker who I can’t stand. When he left for vacation, he asked if I could cat sit for him, and I did. While cat sitting, I invited all of my coworkers to party at his house. We drank his alcohol and one friend even spent the night. My coworker never found out.
- As a kid, I used to be afraid of closed doors. I thought if a door closed and I opened it I would be teleported to a different place, like “Monsters Inc.” It was the worst in the bathroom, I was scared I’d be teleported with only my pjs. I’m fine now.
- Over the summer, I went on a study abroad trip. It was the first time I was away from my boyfriend and I learned that he was controlling and that I didn’t really love him. I decided I would break up with him after I got back from my trip. During my studies I started liking another guy and kissed him before breaking up with my boyfriend. Is that considered cheating?
You can learn a lot about someone when asking them for details of their lives they might have never shared with anyone. What I have found about sharing secrets is that it starts a conversation. After asking people their secret, they began reminiscing about things they have done in the past, smiling, laughing, and usually remembering more secrets, moments of embarrassment, stupidity, and love.
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