35 Of The Deepest Secrets People Refuse To Reveal To Their Parents: “Would Be Devastating To My Mom”

Everyone lies. Everyone keeps secrets. At least to a certain extent. But there is a massive difference between secrecy on the one hand and privacy on the other.

Specifically, secrecy has elements of dishonesty and intentional misleading in it, violates other people’s trust, and can be hurtful or disruptive.

Meanwhile, privacy is the opposite, and everyone has a right to it. “In any relationship, you have the right to keep a part of your life secret, no matter how trivial or how important, for the sole reason that you want to,” Verywell Mind explains. This applies to all of your relationships, including romantic, familial, platonic, and others.

In the meantime, Psychology Today notes that, based on research by psychologists Michael Slepian and Alex Koch, 3 dimensions can be used to describe secrets: immorality, connectedness, and insight.

For instance, some secrets can have a component of immorality associated with them, and so, you’re reluctant to share them. Others are related to people’s intimate relationships and are very delicate. Still others are directly linked to sensitive, confidential information that can’t be shared. Naturally, secrets can be linked to all 3 of these dimensions.

In theory, understanding why you’re keeping a secret could help alleviate some of the distress you feel and prevent you from ruminating on it. Specifically, you should think about whether your secret harms someone, or protects someone, and whether you have a good understanding of the secret.

We understand that this is a very sensitive topic, but if you’d like to share your thoughts and experiences, you can do so in the comments at the bottom of this post.

Do you have any secrets that you still haven’t shared even with your closest, most trusted loved ones? How do you distinguish the line between secrecy and privacy? Let us know.