For 100 Days, I Illustrated People In Exchange For Their Secrets

#1

"It Was My 28th Birthday Last Week And No One Remembered It. Not A Single Call Or Text From My Friends And Family. So I Woke Up The Next Day, Sat Outside My House And Cried Quietly. My Dog Came And Started Crying Too. It Was The Most Beautiful Thing Someone Has Ever Done For Me"

"It Was My 28th Birthday Last Week And No One Remembered It. Not A Single Call Or Text From My Friends And Family. So I Woke Up The Next Day, Sat Outside My House And Cried Quietly. My Dog Came And Started Crying Too. It Was The Most Beautiful Thing Someone Has Ever Done For Me"

For 100 Days, I Illustrated People In Exchange For Their Secrets

"It Was My 28th Birthday Last Week And No One Remembered It. Not A Single Call Or Text From My Friends And Family. So I Woke Up The Next Day, Sat Outside My House And Cried Quietly. My Dog Came And Started Crying Too. It Was The Most Beautiful Thing Someone Has Ever Done For Me"

"I Burned The Suicide Note I Wrote A Month Ago. Today Is A Good Day"

"I Always Check If My Friends Are Doing Well, But People Rarely Ask How I Am"

"I Try My Hardest To Make People Happy Because I Know What It's Like To Feel Absolutely Worthless. I Don't Want Anyone Else To Feel Like That"

"I Sometimes Feel Alone Even If I'm With Friends. I Feel Like I'm Just An Add-On When We're Together"

"I'm Acting In A Play Where This Guy Has To Act Like He's Secretly In Love With Me. But When The Play Ends, We Go Back To Real Life Where I'm Secretly In Love With Him"

"I Told My Unborn Son I Wasn't Ready To Be Loved By Him. The Next Day I Miscarried"

"It's Been Two And A Half Years But I Still Can't Tell Those Around Me That I Am HIV Positive. So Instead Of Focusing On What I Can't Do, I Volunteer To Help Change The Stigma Around HIV"

"Half Of My Friends Are People I Wish I've Never Met"

"I Want To Ask My Half-Sister If Our Estranged Dad Ever Touched Her Back When They Were Living Under The Same Roof. Or Was I His Only Victim?"

"It Sucks To Feel Unimportant. I Know You Shouldn't Really Expect Much From People But It Hurts To See When They Only Come To You When They Need Something. They Only Remember Me, Not Because Of Me, But For Something They Might Gain"

"I Wanted To Visit My Grandmother In The Hospital But It Was A Long Walk And I Got Lazy. The Next Day, She Passed Away"

"I Tell People My Mom Died From Cancer When She Actually Died From Cirrhosis Due To Alcoholism. I Didn't Want People To Think She Was A Horrible Mother. We Were Close No Matter How Different The Alcohol Made Her Sometimes"

"I Lost My Smile A Long Time Ago. Now I Go Everywhere Hoping Nobody Will Notice That This Isn't My Smile Anymore"

"I Got Drugged And Raped By Someone I Knew And Can't Get Myself To Tell Anyone For Fear Of Victim Blaming. But On Most Days, I Can't Help But Victim Blame Myself"

"I Wrote Letters To My Girlfriend Every Day. Every Day Until Her Lung Cancer Took Her Away From Me"

"I Like To Think The Best Of People But I Actually Think Most Humans Are Terrible"

"I Created An Imaginary Friend As A Coping Mechanism For My Depression. Now I Want To Make Her Disappear But She Keeps Coming Back"

"I Got Rejected By My Friends Because They Think I’m Gay. I Tried Telling Them That I'm Not But I’m Starting To Realize They Might Be Right. I’m Lost Between Myself And Our Friendship"

"I Am Generally Thankful And Happy About What I've Got In My Life. But I Always Feel Like There Is A Black Hole In My Heart That No One Would Understand, Some Pain Just Won't Go Away And I'm Trying Hard To Live With It"

"I Am Constantly Thinking About What Other People Think Of Me. And I Don't Think That's Healthy"

"One Day, I Came Home From The University And My Mother Told Me To Cover Up My Legs In Front Of My Friends. She Didn't Want Them To Realize I Had Gained Weight And She Said She Was Just Protecting Me From Gossip. The Comment Didn't Leave My Mind And I've Been Bulimic Ever Since"

"I Don't Know What I Want..."

"Although The Nasty Rumors That Circulated About Me Were Untrue, I Don't Bother Correcting Them And Let People Think I'm Not A Virgin Anymore. But The Truth Is, I Haven't Even Had My First Kiss"

"I'm Always The One Who Gets Left In A Relationship. I Thought I Was Okay. I Try To Convince Myself That I Am Okay. But There Are Nights When I Just Have Sudden Breakdowns And I Ask Myself So Many Questions. Is Something Wrong With Me... Am I Really Not Worth Fighting For?"

"I Don't Like My Close Friends Being Close With Other People"

"Many Years Ago, I Was So Broke That I Stole A Roll Of Toilet Paper From My Office"

"I'm A Perfectionist Who Isn't Perfect At All. It's Exhausting"

"My First Relationship Was A Physically And Emotionally Abusive One. When That Finally Ended, It Took Me A While To Get Used To The Idea That Love Can Actually Be Expressed In Ways Other Than What I Have Experienced"

"He Is The Love Of My Life But I Found That Out Too Late. Whenever There Is Snow, It Reminds Me Of Him"

"I'm So Self-Conscious That I Can't Even Go To The Grocery Without Comparing Myself To Other Women There"

"I Contributed To My Friends' Success And Resent Them For Not Including Me Once They Became Famous"

"I Am A Journalist Secretly Dating A High-profile And Controversial Public Official. If This Gets Out, I'm Almost Certain I'll Lose My Job"

"Father's Day Will Always Be The Time Of The Year I'll Envy Everybody For Posting How Great Their Dads Are. I Used To Be Sad About It But Now, I Think I Accepted That He Won't Be That Hero And Role Model Every Father Should Be"

"I Made Up An Entire Part Of My Life. People Believe Some Of The Things Actually Happened, But Really A Lot Of My Stories Are Fake"

"I’ve Cheated On Quite A Few Guys. And Now That I've Found The Love Of My Life, He Wasn't Ready For Me. He Was Seeing Me While He Was Seeing His Ex. If There's Any Way To Portray Karma In Its Purest, Most Painful And Justified Form, This Is It"

"I Can’t Stand The Ringing Of Bells. Every Time I Hear It, My Heart Beats Faster. It Reminds Me Of My Mom's Voice And The Bells On Her Keys That Would Ring Every Single Time She Comes Home. God Knows What She Had Done To Me"

"I Fall In Love Too Easily And Terribly Hard. I Don't Know If That's A Good Or Bad Thing"

"I Dont Have A Twitter Account But I Still Stalk Him On Twitter Just To Check How He's Doing. He Seems To Be Doing Fine. I'm Not..."

"I Overdo Things And I Constantly Make Myself The Center Of Attention Because I'm Terrified Of Being Forgotten"

"I Think I'll Never Find My Other Half Because I Have A Hard Time Expressing And Feeling Love; It Might Sound Weird But I Would Only Feel Love After Watching Films And Series Because Of The Beauty They Hold"

"Five Years Ago, I Caught My Third Girlfriend Cheating On Me. That Was The Time I Decided To Have A Boyfriend Instead"

“i Was Born Into A Culture That Never Accepted Me. Born To An Arab Father And A European Mother; I Am Constantly Fighting Two Sides Of My Identity. Anxiety And Depression Has Completely Taken Over Me”

"Sometimes I Feel Like I Am A Really Abusive Person That Only Use People For My Own Good. This Scares Me So Much"

"It's Been Two Years But I Still Think About My Ex Every Day. It's Cliche And Lame I Know. I Wish I Had A Better Secret"

"I Have A Weird Obsession With Smelling The Scent Of Paper And Hearing The Sound While Flipping Through The Pages"

"I've Posted Photos And Stories On Social Media To Show People How Interesting And Colorful My Life Is. However, It's Just The Total Opposite"

"I Haven't Been Posting Any Photo With My Face On It Since Last Year. I Feel Better Than Ever"

"My Bipolar Disorder Is Completely Out Of Control. No One Knows, Because I'm Good At Being Fine"

"I Tell My Close Friends A Lot Of Details About My Relationship Issues. I Can Never Tell If They Actually Do Care, Or If They're Just Pretending"