Two years ago I started making random confessions to the world. Blogging is like that. It brings out all sorts of personal things you would normally only tell a best friend. Suddenly you are perfectly comfortable sharing things like the fact that you have pulled dirty socks out of the laundry for your son to wear to school. Disclaimer: I did smell them first, though, I promise. They weren’t that bad.

At the time you are typing the aforementioned sensitive information into your laptop (thinking of it as a sort of therapeutic exercise) it seems like you are just writing for yourself. No harm done. But then you look at the stats from the day and realize about thousands of people you don’t know and everyone googling “stinky feet” forever more now know the embarrassing truth about your laundry and child rearing failures. They know you are (gasp), REAL.

I have also revealed over the past few years that I suffer from a disease.

“Hi. My name is Melissa and I am recovering from magazine cover-itis.”

—Read more from my article over at (in)courage…