People sometimes jokingly refer to Facebook as "Fakebook," because it seems like a reflection of the life we want to lead instead of the life we are truly leading. Not that there's anything wrong with that. We all need a place to showcase our best selves, I guess.

However, occasionally, Facebook gets super real. Like when someone passes away. Or when someone posts something more personal than usual about an illness, a divorce or a lost job. I have read posts about all of these topics, and they always move me.

This weekend, a Facebook friend posted a status update that read, "Does anyone want to make a confession? Welcome to my Facebook confessional."

Twenty-one comments were posted over the course of a few hours, and people, indeed, confessed things, including "I'm having a midlife crisis," "I'm afraid of centipedes," "I ate a half pound of pistachios last night" and "I have woken up every night in the middle of the night since my dad died fearful of 'bad things' that will undoubtedly happen in the future."

I believe posts such as this really unite people, as social media is intended to do, and not alienate them, which is sometimes what social media does instead.

Thanks for this, Facebook friend. Now back to my regularly scheduled states updates about what I'm eating for lunch and life-affirming quotes from my favorite visionary authors.