14 Women Who Couldn’t Keep Their Secrets Anymore

There are moments in life when the weight of unspoken words becomes too much to carry alone. Sometimes, we hold onto secrets—too painful, too personal, or too complicated to share. But when we finally find the courage to voice them, we realize that we are not as alone as we once thought. These are the stories of women who’ve chosen to open up, revealing truths they’ve kept hidden for years.

• I purposefully ruin my desire to find love, because I feel like it’s a desire that’s going to land me somewhere that I can’t get out. As a nanny, I’ve worked in broken families where it’s been difficult for the parents and the children.
  I fear becoming boring, unattractive, and annoying to the man I find myself marrying. I fear having children in a marriage with no spark, no joy, no intimacy. I fear marrying someone that thinks they’re better than me and can do better than me. © Thefirststone_1998 / Reddit
• I started talking to a man on a dating app, let’s call him K. We messaged on Snapchat for a bit and got along so well, but he was a fair bit older than me, and it never went anywhere. I met my current partner a few months later.
  K messaged me out of the blue to say he was going to climb Everest, and we should catch up when he’s back. I never messaged him back. I felt uncomfortable messaging another man that wasn’t my partner, and also didn’t want to let K down or hurt his feelings.
  I haven’t heard from him since. I still think about him all the time. I feel so bad I never responded. I wish I at least told him I’d met someone and wished him the best. © Unknown author / Reddit
• I’m so addicted to my phone it’s insane. This probably sounds so tame, but it’s sucked up years of my life and I just act like a normal person with hobbies and interests around people, but I am spending actually disgusting amounts of time just scrolling, feeling like I’m watching myself in third person unable to stop.
  It’s not cute or funny, and I feel like my brain is atrophying slowly. I used to be so lively and interested and interesting. I don’t know how I let this happen. © STEM****** / Reddit

• I’m still carrying the traumas I had with my family. We already reconciled and all, and I think my parents thought that all’s good, but I still can’t see myself hanging out with them or visiting them over the weekend, without my partner with me.
  My mom kept asking me to stay in their unit every Saturday to hang out with my siblings, but I keep on making excuses because I feel like it’s a burden and I just don’t see the point because most likely I’ll just sleep. I just feel like I can love them from a distance, but not when I’m with them. © broke**********ghorl / Reddit
• I am married to a kind man who doesn’t deserve the absolute fact that I am madly in love with my best female friend, who also happens to be the girlfriend of one of my best friends. He was always comfortable, and I deeply love him, I just didn’t know what being in love really felt like until her.
  She feels the same way. We are completely stuck. © maryslappysamsonite / Reddit
• My husband and I have been married for 6 years and trying for a baby for 4. Well, he’s been trying for a baby. I’ve been secretly taking birth control pills. I don’t want a child, but I’m afraid if I tell him, he’ll leave me.
  Last week, we took our monthly pregnancy test, and I was getting ready to act disappointed at the negative result, but it was positive. I froze. He cried for joy. I can’t believe this is happening.
  Part of me is relieved that I don’t have to lie to him anymore, and I’m happy that he’s happy, but the other part of me now has to come to terms with the fact that I’m going to be a mother. I don’t know what I’m going to do.

• I love my kids more than anything... but I really wish I had never had them. My mental health has tanked since I became a mom a decade ago. I’m doing ok now, but it was really rough for a while.
  I want to run away and start over, but I’d never be able to leave my kids, and I’d never take them away from everyone and everything they know. I couldn’t ever do that to them. So I stay.
  Stuck here. Trying to be happy in a life that doesn’t fulfil me at all. © momof2boys87 / Reddit
• I still miss my ex. He’s the kindest person I’ve ever met, not even exaggerating. I’ve accepted the reasons why we won’t work, and I agree that we won’t, but I still feel sad about it and wish there was a way. © wwwwxyz / Reddit

• I stay up all night just to have time alone. If I don’t have the quiet of the night and space to myself, I will suffocate. © WINTERSONG1111 / Reddit
• I’m terrified of becoming anything like my parents (specifically my mother), and feel like I’m constantly racing against a clock to do better than she was able to do for herself at my age (21). The entire extended family sees my immediate family as lazy, poor, jobless and incapable. I pray I can break the cycles. © bugsnatrenchcoat / Reddit
• I don’t love my brother, and I’m pretty sure I never have. He’s a horrible human being—he has been since we were kids—and I am not capable of loving someone so terrible. I’m glad I haven’t spoken to him in more than a decade, and I hope I never have to again. © Old-Arachnid77 / Reddit

• I’ve never admitted this to anyone, but sometimes I feel like an imposter in my own life. Like one day, everyone will realize I’m just faking it—my job, my relationships, even my personality. I keep waiting for the ‘reveal,’ but it never comes.
  And the weirdest part? I think most people feel the same way, but are just better at hiding it. © kitchenlung / Reddit
• I constantly struggle against limerence. As a little girl, I was always alone, and I played by living in elaborate fantasies about mythical creatures, etc. in my head all the time. I suppose that limerence is the adult continuation of my brain’s predilection for fantasy, except that it’s 10000 times more damaging and distressing when I have commitments and responsibilities and a family I dearly love.
  I haven’t acted on my fantasies, but I’ve had to do some fairly extreme things to keep it that way, and the shame and self-berating is massive. © AutomaticCupcake33 / Reddit
• I told my sister that my ex and I broke up because he cheated on me, but that’s not the truth. I didn’t want to tell her the real reason because I knew it would make her hate me. The truth is, we broke up because he told me he couldn’t cheat on his wife anymore.
  I was the other woman. I knew it, and he knew it, but we kept pretending that everything was fine. I couldn’t tell my sister that I was the one he was sneaking around with. She’d never look at me the same way again, and honestly, I can’t blame her.

Every woman’s journey is unique, and sometimes sharing our truth is the first step toward healing. If you’re ever feeling like giving up or questioning your path, remember that you’re not alone. Just like the women in these powerful stories, perseverance and courage can lead to amazing transformations. Check out this article that reminds us why giving up is never an option.