We all have secrets. But no matter whether they are light or dark, big or small, some of them we are keeping to ourselves and eventually taking to our graves.
Still, hiding something is usually no easy burden, and thus, the idea of anonymously sharing it becomes very tempting. That’s why when someone online asked people about these secrets, netizens didn’t hesitate to fill the thread with answers, all while remaining calmly hidden behind their Reddit usernames. Scroll down to see what they said!
More info: Reddit
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Despite being social creatures that like to talk and connect, there are certain things that we may refrain from sharing with others and many different reasons why we might choose to do that. But when talking about secrets, the first thing that comes to the minds of most people is probably something dark and heavy.
As it turns out, keeping something like that hidden away from the world might actually do damage to us. As Roberta Dode of Unveiled Facts shared, doing this can damage relationships with friends, family, and partners, as it limits our communication and can lead to suspicion as well as hostility, which, in the end, can breed even more secrecy.
Secrets in families play an even bigger role, as keeping something from children can make them feel left out, leading to them forming similar behavioral patterns. They might even end up having a distorted perception of reality due to not learning certain things that are hidden from them, whether because of trying to shield the kids or keeping things from the parents themselves.
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But those are not all of the ways in which keeping secrets can be unhealthy. According to Elisabeth Egan of The New York Times, the most harm actually comes not from hiding something but from having to live with it alone in your thoughts.
As the person’s mind keeps wandering to the secret they’re keeping over and over again, with no emotional support or advice, it can take a real toll on one’s mental health. Eventually, this can create a lot of anxiety, stress, and the feeling of being burdened, leading to a worsened quality of life and other serious problems that can show their face in the long term.
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However, regardless of the picture painted above, not all secrets are harmful. In fact, as Noa Leach from Science Focus shared, some might actually even be good for you.
A recent study done by researchers at Columbia University revealed that keeping good news to yourself can actually energize you and make you feel more alive. It turns out that keeping these types of secrets can boost a person’s energy levels, and even the intention of eventually spilling the beans gets a nice positive spin, especially if it’s planned in the form of a surprise.
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We often miss this side of keeping secrets, as all the previous research has focused on the negative side of it and the things being hidden due to negative implications to our and others’ lives.
In addition to that, it’s not as usual to hide something that we’re happy about, as we tend to share it as soon as we can. Compared to the negative things, when someone chooses to keep something positive a secret, they almost always make a choice to do it, going for their own enjoyment as opposed to being forced to by internal or external factors.
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In the end, like many other things, secrets also have a positive and a negative side. How we’re keeping them, ultimately, is a decision that falls to us and us alone. While we might have many different reasons for doing what we’re doing, it’s wise to consider all the ups and downs. If some negative secret starts to feel like it’s really pulling you down, perhaps it’s time to talk to someone about it, and doing it anonymously online can be a start.
What did you think about these secrets? Do you have any secrets you’re taking to the grave that you wouldn’t mind sharing anonymously? Type away in the comments below!
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I have shared it before but I have a Mum of a friend who took me in when I was homeless just after highschool. She made me a Lemon Meringue Pie that first night and I was so hungry I nearly ate the whole thing by myself. I hadn't had a home cooked meal for a long time. She was so excited that I loved it because her boys 'turned their nose up at it'. The catch is.... I can't stand lemons, or meringue. Now, she's been making me a Lemon Meringue Pie every year since, because "it's my favourite". Over 20 years (and counting) of Lemon Meringue Pies that I will happily choke down until the day she dies ...then, I will miss those pies more than anything else in the world.My sweet and gentle wife called me upset because she was unsure if she hit a squirrel with her car on her way to work, she said it ran out in front of her but she didn’t see him lying in the road afterward. The road she was on is close to our house, so I went and found the poor little guy, scooped him up with a shovel and buried him on the side of the road, so that on her way home she would see that there wasn’t a dead squirrel and assume she hadn’t hit him. That’s exactly what happened, she was relieved and I’ll never tell her the truth.I never cried at any funeral of my family member, but I cried for two hours straight bawling my eyes out because my beloved guinea pig died in my arms and I wasn't able to save her. Rest in peace, Swanky.My younger brother and his wife were struggling financially after having a kid. They were both in school full time and both worked to try and make ends meet, but one particular month things were looking really rough because he got injured and couldn't work.
I was working overtime at a really well-paying job at the time. So one night, after getting paid, I went to their place and put an envelope with my entire pay into their mail slot in the door. It was accompanied with a letter I typed, pretending to be an old lady in the apartment building who had seen them with their newborn and wanted to help the new parents out.
The relief they got from it was repayment enough for me. I don't want him to ever find out it was me.
And now that he's graduated, he's the one working at an insanely well-paying job and I'm currently disabled, unable to work. Funny how life works out that way.I am totally okay with dying and I kind of look forward to it. I wouldn't tell anyone because they would probably interpret it as me [wanting to hurt myself] but I don't have any desire to [end] myself. But if I was diagnosed with cancer tomorrow [I] would definitely refuse treatment.My younger sister and I were in high school at the same time. She was the most beautiful girl in the whole school, and surprisingly, this caused her to not have many friends. She did have one group of girl friends who bullied her and eventually kicked her out of the group. One of the girls was her childhood best friend. It was obviously a jealousy thing as she was (is) also the sweetest person you could meet.
So one night my hooligan friends and I were driving around trashing peoples cars who we didn’t like. (I know, so cool) just with things like glitter, beans, toilet paper, etc. no damage was actually done. These people were also just mean a******s and we had fun doing it. We got to one girls house whose little sister was the main bully of my little sister. We watched from the car as they arrived home, and I said “y’all stay here. I got this one”
I went up and knocked on the door and the mom answered and I said “hi! Is Lexi here? ?” Lexi came to the door and her face dropped. I told her that if she ever puts my sisters name in her mouth ever again I’d come right back here and beat the s**t out of her. I pointed over to the car with my friends faces all glued to the window and said “and they’ll come to.” And left
They left my sister alone and she thought it was because she was the bigger person and felt proud of herself for never lowering herself to their level. I never told her.I'm the reason a guy was caught, went to prison and was [ended] there by his inmates. It was cold and bloody revenge. I just told some critical information to the wrong people. He took everything from someone I love so I've taken everything from him, broke him and ruined his reputation and got him [dead]. I regret nothing and would do it again. Every. f*****g. time.Twenty-plus years ago, I met a guy at a club, hooked up with him a couple times, super casual. Never gave me ANY reason to suspect he wasn't single.
Then he died -- I found out from the bartender. It was a car crash.
Found the obituary... and learned that he had a loving wife and two young kids.
To. The. Grave.I had a terrible mother and father-promised myself to never walk out on my kid. When my first kid was 2 years old, my wife cheated and it crushed me. She was the major bread winner at the time and I had to move out of our upper middle class house into an apartment in the s****y part of town. I nearly [took my own life]. She “realized her mistake” and came begging for me to take her back after about 9 months. I love my kids so much and wanted to spend everyday with them, so I “forgave” her and we have been together since. She doesn’t know for the last 16 years, I haven’t loved her. I pretend to be happy to ensure someone else doesn’t raise my children.I was 13 when I did this. My big brother is a diehard Ronaldo fan - around the time of his birthday I happened to be in Dallas and Ronaldo also happened to have a game in the city. I quickly asked my uncle to take me to the local sports store so I can use my savings to buy a Ronaldo jersey and waited for hours outside Ronaldo’s hotel for him to sign it - but he never came out and my flight back home was soon.
So… on my flight back home I end up signing the jersey myself, after studying Ronaldo’s signature. I also found a couple believable photos on Google of Ronaldo walking and made it seem like I took those pics myself, right before he “signed” it. When my big brother opened the present, he fell to his knees in shock and happiness and 15 years later, he still cherishes it and talks about it weekly how it’s the best gift of his life. Can’t take that joy away from him.
To the grave.My wife and I were in our early days of dating when she bought baseball tickets for us and some friends. The problem though was the tickets ended up being for that afternoon and not the following day. She was super upset and was afraid she lost that money. I had her put them on the resale site. They didn't sell for a few hours so I went and bought them. I'd do it 100x over seeing her face of relief. I relisted them for a lower price and made a little of the money back. I think she would literally [end] me if she found out. TL;DR - bought the same baseball tickets twice to make my now wife happy.I fart near couples in the public and watch them blame each other from a distance.* Over the course of a year and a half, I stole well over a thousand dollars from my mom's alcoholic boyfriend. He got paid under the table in cash, would get drunk, and just leave it in his pants. He paid for my first Stephen King hardcover as well as several metal band concerts. * My older brother would regularly beat me because he was an a*****e. I took every one of his cassettes, put paper in the notch to record over the tape. On our entertainment center, we had an 8-track record button. If a cassette was playing and you pressed the button, it would record blanks. I randomly did this with all of his music. * My younger brother lent my bicycle to one of his [addict] friends who promptly sold it. When my brother balked at replacing it, I waited a couple of months, opened up his gas tank and engine to his motorcycle and put in a couple of teaspoons of metal shavings from the school metal shop. Mom's dead. Boyfriend is too. Have not spoken to my brothers in decades.During my days Brigham Young University Idaho I would go out after dark in my homemade ghillie suit to scare the students there. They walk by and Id surprise em with an unexpected movement or word. I got chased by the cops once but I was fast enough to turn the corner of the building lay down in the garden and they kept running. Now that I live in Provo Utah I do the same thing every Halloween at the university here.I do not enjoy anything in life.My husband’s grandmother gave me the recipe to his favorite chocolate chip cookies… it’s the exact same recipe that’s on the bag of nestlé toll house chocolate chips.I think I was hurt more by being taken by force to funerals of people dear to me, than I was by their death. I emotionally cannot handle a funeral, and because of that funerals make it harder for me to grieve than crying in a corner with someone consoling me.When i was a younger person(17 years old, this happened around 12 years ago) my little sister (16)got involved with some…. Unsavory people My parents forced me to swap phones with her for her safety and as i was still paying off my phone i couldnt afford a new one. (Note, this was before the automatic unknown caller blocking option) I would get calls 2-3 times a day from either scammers or those “friends” asking me where she was and when i didnt comply they started giving me death threats and showing up at my work, and harassing my girlfriend at the time. Took me 2 years with minimal help from the police to get it to stop since “guys shouldnt feel intimidated, get your stuff together and move on”. My therapist basically said the same thing and notified my parents, breaching confidentiality (still not entirely sure if thats a thing, but i like to believe it is) And my parents beat the s**t out of me for taking it out of the family. To this day i still have massive trust issues, fear of phonecalls and being overly cautious in any situation in public, constantly draining my mental state. Still scared of telling people about it out of fear of being ridiculed but working through it with a different mental health professional tho.My mom and I had manually removed the identification chip from our dead dog neck. Its illegal in my country to burry a animal in a forest (wich I really wanted to do since we were in apartment).that i hate my brother.
he's a total a*s and i hope he dies.
for some clarification he's autistic so that makes it very difficult. he's so controlling and i just can't deal with it anymore. It's so hard...I have never told anyone the number of sexual partners I have had, but my wife tried to guess, and the number she guessed was 10% of my real number. I let her think she was right, and she got upset because she said she was intentionally overestimating.i am into some extremely nsfw stuff. i’ve never told anyone the extent of my fantasies, my current bf gets me closer to blurting some out everyday but there are fantasies of mine that i will take to the grave.I never got Covid, aka I have no friends.I have a pretty mild one I'm willing to share. I have a friend who's been single for a very long time. Whenever we talk about girls he pretty much always talks about one girlfriend he had during high school. He keeps talking about that relationship and expanding on the lore and the intricacies of how they had so much passion but life pulled them apart.
What he doesn't know is that I know for a fact that the girl he's referring to did not have a relationship with him. I know at least 3 different people who hooked up with her during the timeline of his alleged relationship and that she later had a relationship with another guy for some years before she moved away. It's not a case of my friend having been cheated on or lied to, he was basically her orbiter at the time and got 2-3 pity hookups but he's twisting reality to make their friendship appear as a relationship. I don't have the heart to tell him that I know he's lying, so I just nod in agreement.I’ve intentionally avoided every phone call from my one and only friend lately because I just haven’t felt like talking.
EDIT: I don’t know if this is something I would necessarily take to the grave, but it’s all I could come up with at the moment.This one’s pretty dark just fyi. I was deployed to Iraq. We had a hot headed guy who would be a gunner on the humvees and shoot a ton of warning shots when vehicles got close. Like 10x the amount everyone else in our platoon combined. Anyway, I got out on a detail away from my platoon for a couple months. When I got back it was the same ole thing. A few years after we got back I was talking to a friend of mine who was in my platoon over there. Turns out this guy who was the hot head straight up blew a dudes head off in a car in front of him and shot a dude in a bus when he was the passenger. I’m talking they weren’t even near our platoon. He straight up [ended] them. Want the kicker? He’s now a cop in North Carolina.I know where the 7-iron really was that day. Doug didn’t leave it on hole 6. I used it to hit a ball back into the driving range and the club slipped out of my hand and landed in a tree. I also used to look at that tree for a good year or so each time we played, praying that you wouldn’t see the sun reflecting off it as you’d know it was me. (My friend’s mum’s golf-set).I absolutely hate my mother and fantasize about spraying pee all over her grave when she finally goes. My pee, from a water bottle which I will have peed in earlier so as not to attract unwanted attention at the cemetery. Also considering bringing a salt shaker to ensure nothing will ever grow there. Did I mention I hate my mother? She’s mean as a snake. I’ll never actually do any of these things, and I’m civil to her for my dad’s sake, but thinking about it is really soothing sometimes…I have feelings for someone my son looks up to. I could probably tell that person how I feel, but I am not going to. I don't want to make things awkward or embarrass my son.I stopped loving her when she asked for an open relationship. The fault was mine, for the record, but I should’ve told her then. I was too scared of losing my first real shot at love, than realizing something should have changed then and there, and it would’ve completely changed both of our lives if I had. I’m sorry, to you, and to myself.I think I'm a narcissist. I don't go around ghosting or manipulating people but my empathy is very selective. Sometimes, I can't cry. Sometimes, I enjoy the pain of those who wronged me. Most times, I really care about how people treat ME and see ME and disregard what I might say to them in the process.
My feelings are so intense. They go from 100% caring to not caring at all. And I don't know how to regulate.I have lots of femboy (stuff) but I dress like a lumberjack most days I’ve been told, so I don’t think anyone suspects anything.that i hate my brother.
i wish he was never born because he has cast a whole big shadow over my life.
he gets everything and i have to fight for even a scrap of attention, its terrible.
im just so stuck because im still young and we don't get invited to family events anymore because he would make a fuss, so i practially have no one to go to.I still like her, regardless of how much of an AH she was, I'm not telling anyone tho.In the early 2000s, I would fix my neighbor's laptop regularly, usually just a tune up or software update from time to time. What he didn't know was that I installed a program that allowed me remote access to everything on the laptop: his vast homemade porno collection, his screen, and even his webcam, which he would conveniently leave open when he's "adding more content" to the aforementioned homemade porno collection.
One day, we had a disagreement, and I got so angry, I decided to grab as many videos as I can from the laptop and upload them to a popular adult website that I knew he frequented. It only took a couple days for him to stumble upon one, then another, then a few more of those premium videos. Due to my background and personality, he never suspected me. In fact, he came to me a week later, asking me to check out his laptop because he suspected someone may have gotten access to his important, personal files.
