Modern Women: December Writing Prompts & Theme
Can you keep a secret?
When was the last time someone told you a secret?
Like most of us, a large portion of my mind has been taken up with family gathering recently. The holidays inevitably mean spending time in groups of friends and loved ones, some of whom we won’t have seen or interacted with in a while. It can be fun, but it can also be weighted down with everything that is unsaid. And most families, both blood and chosen, have their secrets.
There is a particular heaviness to these unspoken bags we carry — those we carry in silence, those that burst forth and alter lives, and those whispered around us, the ones we desperately avoid hearing because we fear the transformations they demand.
Secrets exist in every culture, every family, and every life, shaping relationships, and futures. Yet, we rarely pause to examine them: why we keep them, how they protect or harm us, and what they reveal about the way we navigate the world.
Think about the secrets you hold — the ones you’ve tucked away so deeply they feel like part of your bones.
Are they yours alone, or were they handed down like heirlooms, cloaked in unspoken rules and whispered warnings? Were you told to keep them, or did you choose silence as a shield?
