"I made a new friend while sorting my recycling!"
and other selected secrets/sparkles
Hi friends, thank you so much for being here! It means a lot to me. If you enjoy my writing, I’d love it if you’d share A Little Something Sweet with the people you love. I also invite you to upgrade to a paid subscription, which gives you access to my Rom Coms Revisited movie club, exclusive recipes, and other subscribers-only content. Your support of my work allows me to keep creating here and elsewhere. I’m so grateful, xoxo.
remember, in this context:
secrets are the shadowy things that we want to share but might be tempted to hide because of shame/fear/social obligations.
sparkles are the things that make you feel most alive - little moments of joy/satisfaction/contentment that you wish you could bottle up.
click here to submit your own secrets/sparkles anonymously anytime.
loosely defined themes of the week: hanging out with mom, hiding things because of shame, creating vibes
secrets
short & sweet/salty:
Have basically given up on work for today bc the sun is shining and the kitty fell asleep in my lap.
I let my house get really messy in my depression, now I'm too embarrassed to have anyone over. I want to clean but I don't know where to start!
I'm married and I've been having an emotional affair that has just ended and I want to die.
I'm glad i finally got diagnosed with ADHD at 25, but also sad knowing how much it has affected my life
I asked my sister to sent me pictures of her cat—she accidentally included a “special” photo of herself she took for her partner.
My spouse and I discussed having separate beds/rooms (not in a sad way).
I want to transfer colleges but idk to where.
Both want and am afraid to get plastic surgery on a part of my body that has always bothered me.
I’m planning on quitting my job but I’m waiting till they pay for me to go on a little trip first.
Thriving in the working world has never clicked with me and I feel like such a misfit for it.
I got dumped, the worst part is knowing I messed up what would have been really good.
My male boss is a misogynistic dick and I don’t deserve to be treated like this.
Cleaning out lost&found at work. Found wallet that’s been there for a year and took the $$.
I let people treat me badly just so I don’t have to be alone.
I’m tired of being single and tired of dating.
Sometimes I wish I was born to a better family.
Nixed my mom from my life bc she’s a transphobic conspiracy theorist. Later, hater.
I received constructive criticism about an insecurity today & am taking it very personally.
My spouse doesn’t want a vasectomy anymore and it makes me feel uneasy.
2 of my best friends started dating…everyone’s excited but I’m afraid it’ll go poorly.
I’m gong to have 2 littles under 2 for three months and I’m terrified of the burn out.
I hate my career of 15 years. Feeling lost and paralyzed to move on.
I cried yesterday when my boyfriend told me he needed the weekend to himself.
My boyfriend’s best friend told me that my boyfriend liked my best friend, I feel sick.
My friend recently made some big, stupid mistakes. I’m supportive but feel aggravated at the dynamics.
After six months of fertility treatments, I’m finally pregnant. But I don’t feel happy. Yet.
I think I have a crush on my best friend but I can’t tell whether or not it’s platonic.
I kinda wish I had been part of layoffs. It would have extended my maternity leave.
I don’t think I’ll ever like my brother in law and it’s making me dislike my sister.
I’m dating someone new and it feels so exhausting getting to know someone ELSE’S history.
Wanted my boyfriend to move in until we actually decided to do it, now I’m not so sure.
I’m in my early 20s and an alcoholic. I struggle being honest with my support system.
I’m having an affair (my husband knows but his wife doesn’t) and I am FALLING hard.
I’m broken hearted over someone who treated me like in I’m disposable.
I’m so sensitive emotionally & it makes me feel obsessive & crazy specially in my relationships.
I made chocolate chip cookie dough but ate the dough w/o the chocolate chips and it was fab.
I minimize my eating disorder to everyone and brush it off with an excuse but it’s very lonely.
Started therapy for the first time ever and it’s simultaneously the best and worst thing I’ve ever done.
I noticed he unfollowed me. i don't understand how he gets to hurt me and be the happy one in the end.
long-form:
Someone I slept with two years ago and never thought I'd see again (we lived in different states, he kinda broke my heart) is now in the same tiny grad program as me. We have all our classes together and are trying to be mature about it/be friends but every time he is around my anxiety SPIKES. no one else in the program knows we have history.
We're experiencing infertility again and once again I'm spiraling every time I start my period. I adore my firstborn and want to give her a sibling, but it's just not working this time and I think it's because of my husband's sperm.
So following my previous secret where I got a new job offer and lost a house sale in the same day… I also found out later that week that I am pregnant!! I am so happy and I have wanted this forever but after a few stressful weeks of trying to work it out, it means I can’t take the new job and have to stay in the job I hate so that I can get maternity pay. It’s overshadowed the excitement for the first couple of weeks but I am telling everyone my decision today so at least I can draw a line under it and just focus on my pregnancy. Also, the nausea is not fun!
sparkles
short & sweet:
fresh flowers from the farmers market in my new city!
I put up my Halloween decorations at the beginning of the month and am loving them! :)
Fooled around with a new guy and he wouldn’t take his hands off me. V affectionate. Love it.
Date night at a new restaurant.
Ran into my high school crush at a bar last weekend and he asked me on a date.
I got a job offer! I can leave the job that has been stealing my peace and joy for 2 years!
I was able to get my COVID booster and flu shot two weeks before my wedding reception!
I’ve been working on a 1k piece puzzle and it’s really helped with the doomscrolling.
Throwing my sister the witchy baby shower of her dreams next week and can’t wait to celebrate her!!
Grateful to have found a genuinely good therapist.
My mum and dad are getting married to each other again.
My roommate is making dinner for us tonight.
During an overwhelmed mama moment and my 9 week old gazed up at me and smiled.
I think my marriage is going to be okay.
I went to the dentist today and it went well! I’m slowly but surely healing my mouth.
Moving into a new sunny apartment in dream location on Monday.
I get to see my sister in 3 days!! We live 11 hours apart & she’s my best friend.
Sweet older neighbor from my old neighborhood texted that she missed me this week.
Played hookie from work and took my mom to see Barbie on World Daughter Day.
It’s my bday and guy I’m dating sent flowers to work. First time a guy has ever bought me flowers.
I won the chance to go to a local flower farm with my mom and pick our own bouquets!
Been exercising daily for about a month now and it’s hard but feels so good and I’m so proud.
I got two hole in ones playing mini golf with my mom!
After a great conversation at work I’ve felt not anxious for the first time in years.
Currently actively queer coding my appearance and it feels like coming home to myself.
I just got invited out with new friends!
A kid asked if they could pet my dog & was so gentle - both the kid and my dog were happy.
Dinner with my friends tonight. It’s taken us months to figure out a time to get together!
Kids that I work with told me I was “just so nice” and how much they appreciate me.
Getting a personal record on a cross country race and feeling soooo happy.
I made a new friend while sorting my recycling!
I passed my bar(ista) certification exam!!!
I am two months into pole dancing and getting so strong.
It’s my first day of grad school and I’m more excited than nervous.
I wrote a poem and I am IN LOVE with it.
After so many ghostings/rejections - I have two job interviews!!!
I’m eloping in two weeks!!!!!!!!!??
I broke my leg and today is the first day it’s felt kind of normal/not sore in 16 days.
Ordered two new fall candles and am excited for them to get here! :)
A stress-related health issue that's been affecting me for the last year seems to have finally resolved itself now that I've left my last job! Doctor and I are moving forward with additional tests, though, to be sure everything's OK, but yay! :)
long-form:
To the skaterdude I was in a situationship with, you inspired me to take up inline skating again! After nearly 30 years of not doing it, I started skating at the rink about a half hour away. Then this past weekend went out to the Ashokan Reservoir (at the base of the Catskills) and skated for 2 hours, roughly 10 miles worth. I thought of you, Skaterdude, and yes, I miss you, but I was also having a great time. It was bittersweet, but I did it for me and I think you'd be proud of me. I know I was.
hybrids
I started writing fiction again for the first time in like a decade and I've written more than 60,000 words. It feels like something could really be happening and after it's done and edited a LOT I want to submit it to agents. It feels so scary to admit to myself how badly I want to be a writer
I’m getting divorced from my husband because I realized I’ve been in love with my best friend for 10 years.
Soo kinda a mix secret/sparkle. I've been doing a fair amount of organizing in the Muslim community (of which I am a part!), including pushing back against some of the really troubling right wing recruitment of Muslim communities using queerphobia. And though it's been hard and heavy on the heart some days, it also forced me to work through some internalized shit and own (a bit more anyways) my own queerness, which I hadn't ever really confronted in my nearly 30 years of being alive. grateful that I am in loving friendships and in queer community where I am, and also for a new crush that I can be more honest about than I would have allowed myself to be in the past!
xoxo,
your favorite becca
things that permanently live at the bottom of my posts:
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