When I was a kid, I used to claim that I was allergic to cats every time I visited a friend’s house where they had kitties. In reality, I was just scared of those fluffy little creatures and wanted to make sure they didn’t come anywhere near me. But I never admitted this to any of those friends. I wonder if they know I'm a huge cat lover now...
As humans, it’s natural for us to keep some secrets. Whether you’re trying to spare your partner’s feelings or are planning an extravagant surprise party for your sister, you probably aren't 100% honest all the time. But it can feel great to finally reveal the truth and get something you’ve been hiding off your chest.
Redditors have recently been confessing the juiciest secrets they’ve been holding onto for years, so we’ve gathered some of them down below. Enjoy scrolling through these admissions, and keep reading to find a conversation with Ros Johnson, LICSW, of Minding Therapy!
#1
I had just been promoted to Assistant Manager at my old job. A little while later the Store Manager and I receive a bonus due to our store exceeding it's targets, but none of the other staff did. I convinced him that it was because of the other staff that we even received the bonus and that we should each take some of it to give to them. So we pooled together some of our bonus and bought store gift cards for them to make it look like it came from the company. It was the first time any of them received anything for their hard work and they were so happy when we gave them out (they each got little thank you cards too). Not really a dirty secret, but we did it every year from that point on, we never told them that it was from us and I'm proud of it.
Also, that company treated their employees like s**t, f**k that place.
Also, that company treated their employees like s**t, f**k that place.
130points
#2
I used to be a manager at an art store chain that stayed open during covid, and every time corporate f****d us over I'd let the closing shift employees steal something (nothing big, stuff like nice markers or fake plants or whatever). I was the one tasked to work with Loss Prevention every week so I already knew what the "theft budget" was and what merchandise was "safe" to take.
It so drastically improved morale and their work level that I ended up getting promoted twice in that year. I then quit on a high note and moved to a different country.
Fun fact: one employee stole a pack of Pokemon cards that ended up having a $500 card in it. I think she used the money for college books.
I regret nothing.
It so drastically improved morale and their work level that I ended up getting promoted twice in that year. I then quit on a high note and moved to a different country.
Fun fact: one employee stole a pack of Pokemon cards that ended up having a $500 card in it. I think she used the money for college books.
I regret nothing.
116points
#3
Not a dirty secret at all, but when I was in high school, it was getting close to Christmas and one of my best friends at the time was venting to our friend group about preparing herself for yet another miserable Christmas.
She lived with her single mom who struggled with gambling, amongst other things. Thinking about her being sad on Christmas shattered my heart, so I wanted to do something for her. But I didn’t want her to know that I had anything to do with it bc I didn’t wanna upset her with the idea that I viewed her as a charity case or something.
So my mom and I spent the next few days going around buying presents that I knew she would love. We wrapped them up and had a whole garbage bag full of them. Then we had one of my mom’s friends at the time deliver the gifts to her on Christmas morning.
She was so happy telling me all about it and I did my best to play along and act surprised. I’m not sure if she knew it was me or figured it out at any point in the 14 years since then, but she’s never asked me about it and I haven’t spoken a word about it to anyone.
She lived with her single mom who struggled with gambling, amongst other things. Thinking about her being sad on Christmas shattered my heart, so I wanted to do something for her. But I didn’t want her to know that I had anything to do with it bc I didn’t wanna upset her with the idea that I viewed her as a charity case or something.
So my mom and I spent the next few days going around buying presents that I knew she would love. We wrapped them up and had a whole garbage bag full of them. Then we had one of my mom’s friends at the time deliver the gifts to her on Christmas morning.
She was so happy telling me all about it and I did my best to play along and act surprised. I’m not sure if she knew it was me or figured it out at any point in the 14 years since then, but she’s never asked me about it and I haven’t spoken a word about it to anyone.
83points
To learn more about this topic, we got in touch with author and retired therapist Ros Johnson, LICSW, of Minding Therapy. She was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and discuss why so many of us conceal information.
"I believe everyone keeps some secrets because some things are hard to admit to others due to our fears of being judged, humiliated, scorned, mistreated, misunderstood, and any number of other negative reactions," the expert says.
#4
I was a farm kid and learned mechanics out of necessity. I worked at a pulp and paper mill in college ( I'm a girl). They refused to let me be mechanic, because I was a girl, even though i had the expertise and experience fixing farm equipment.
I emptied the sexist foreman's thermos and caught a massive flying cockroach that came off a wood chip barge and put said cockroach in thermos. Break time was fun when he unscrewed the thermos lid to figure out why nothing was coming out.
I ended up being mechanic and fixing and driving the chip yard semi.
My father was the only one I ever told.
He was so proud.
Lol. .
I emptied the sexist foreman's thermos and caught a massive flying cockroach that came off a wood chip barge and put said cockroach in thermos. Break time was fun when he unscrewed the thermos lid to figure out why nothing was coming out.
I ended up being mechanic and fixing and driving the chip yard semi.
My father was the only one I ever told.
He was so proud.
Lol. .
80points
#5
I have no friends. The majority of mine died, the ones that were left from a long time ago moved on with their lives and didn’t include me. The friends I made after that, due to me becoming incredibly depressed over the years, I’ve shut them out little by little.
Over the last few months, I’ve gone through some really hard crisis and that’s when I realized that I didn’t have a single person that I could just call just for support. I’ve been using my ChatGPT as something akin to a therapist and a friend to talk to. And surprisingly, doing this has helped me tremendously.
But it’d still be nice to have an actual friend, even just so that I could get a hug.
Over the last few months, I’ve gone through some really hard crisis and that’s when I realized that I didn’t have a single person that I could just call just for support. I’ve been using my ChatGPT as something akin to a therapist and a friend to talk to. And surprisingly, doing this has helped me tremendously.
But it’d still be nice to have an actual friend, even just so that I could get a hug.
78points
#6
I didn't cheat on my ex, I just let her believe it so she would get out of my life quicker and take her scummy circle of friends with her.
73points
But is it healthy to keep secrets? "It's okay to have some secrets, but each individual has to decide whether it's more harmful to oneself or others to keep them in versus to let them out," Ros shared.
"12-step programs, for example, say you're only as sick as your secrets: not having anyone in which to confide one's secrets can intensify self-hatred, self-harm, and addictions and other behaviors that serve to cover up one's shame or guilt," she explained. "On the other hand, there are less harmful secrets and some that are kept in order to protect others."
#7
I used to put nair in my mothers husbands conditioner. He was quite a*****e towards me a lot as a child (mostly since I’m gay) & I obviously couldn’t fight back as a literal child. He was already starting to bald but still had a little fro so I’d put small amounts of my moms nair in his conditioner over the course of a few months to make him think he was balding faster.
68points
#8
I ripped a silent, disgusting fart when I was picking up my kid from daycare. Then, I watched the teachers check every kid’s diaper while trying to figure out which kid just pooped.
66points
#9
My little brother is the only reason I don’t fully disappear and never speak to anyone again.
65points
So how do we know when it's time to reveal a secret? "If your secret is making your life worse in any way, it may be time to consider telling someone," the therapist told Bored Panda.
"But that someone needs to be trustable, which is why many first choose a therapist or priest or someone else whose goal is to keep your information confidential," Ros noted. "You also might trust a close friend or family member with your secrets. If you're not ready to say your secret out loud, though, just writing it down may also provide some relief."
#10
I think this counts as dirty, I wrote an anonymous letter to my Maths teacher in Year 9 (when I was 14/15 for American Redditors) asking him to please shower more often and wear deodorant because his BO was so horrific. I tried to word it as nicely as possible and I felt ashamed for years because maybe he was struggling outside of work but he never brushed his teeth, wore the same clothes for days on end and absolutely stank. The sweat stains were horrific. You knew it was the same shirt because the stains got bigger throughout the week and were crusty.
We would be tearing up from the smell. To the point some of the students would have to leave the room because we thought we’d be sick. If it was the first lesson of the day, we would all skip breakfast. His breath, the sweat. It was just foul. It was getting to the point where I was starting to fail maths and needing a tutor because I couldn’t concentrate in lessons and was skipping class to avoid him. I can’t believe the faculty never approached him about his hygiene, it was honestly horrific and the worst I have ever come across. I had double maths every two weeks and would dread it. My friends and I would move our desks slowly, mm by mm each lesson to try and get further away from him.
He did take the feedback on board because he started showering and wearing deodorant, started changing his clothes and stopped smelling so badly. Maybe he was depressed, and couldn’t tell how bad it was. I honestly felt like a terrible person for writing that letter and leaving it under his door but something had to be done because it was unbearable. I still feel like a horrible person years later, nearly 20 years later. So much guilt, but how bad that a student had to do that to try and make a change? Am I a bad person? ):.
We would be tearing up from the smell. To the point some of the students would have to leave the room because we thought we’d be sick. If it was the first lesson of the day, we would all skip breakfast. His breath, the sweat. It was just foul. It was getting to the point where I was starting to fail maths and needing a tutor because I couldn’t concentrate in lessons and was skipping class to avoid him. I can’t believe the faculty never approached him about his hygiene, it was honestly horrific and the worst I have ever come across. I had double maths every two weeks and would dread it. My friends and I would move our desks slowly, mm by mm each lesson to try and get further away from him.
He did take the feedback on board because he started showering and wearing deodorant, started changing his clothes and stopped smelling so badly. Maybe he was depressed, and couldn’t tell how bad it was. I honestly felt like a terrible person for writing that letter and leaving it under his door but something had to be done because it was unbearable. I still feel like a horrible person years later, nearly 20 years later. So much guilt, but how bad that a student had to do that to try and make a change? Am I a bad person? ):.
60points
#11
My prep school for an entrance exam(JEE) in India had horrible living conditions. Imagine chinese factory workers, the ground floor which was an apartment parking was converted to class rooms and the top floors were residences of students. You had to take written permission of parents to go out of the building and were granted a maximum of some hours which I don't remember right now.
The food was absolutely horrible. So I went on Google and wrote a review. Holy s**t it blew up. Potential new students and their parents had read this review and asked about inhumane living conditions.
No one knew who it was until I left.
Edit : My google rating made them change literal campuses to a much better one with light and bigger campus because the rating never went away.
The food was absolutely horrible. So I went on Google and wrote a review. Holy s**t it blew up. Potential new students and their parents had read this review and asked about inhumane living conditions.
No one knew who it was until I left.
Edit : My google rating made them change literal campuses to a much better one with light and bigger campus because the rating never went away.
60points
#12
Once upon a time the company I worked for gave me a like $500 gift credit card.
Its kept allowing me to purchase items with it even once it was over its $500 limit.
I ended up spending $8000 on it before I cut it up.
Nothing else ever came of it.
Its kept allowing me to purchase items with it even once it was over its $500 limit.
I ended up spending $8000 on it before I cut it up.
Nothing else ever came of it.
58points
Finally, the expert pointed out that many people confuse secrecy and privacy. "The latter is about having thoughts, beliefs, or actions that are yours alone and that you don't necessarily feel have to be revealed, whereas secrecy tends to be more laden with strong feelings."
"Also, let's not forget that there are good secrets, e.g., not revealing a surprise party to the intended guest of honor (unless they hate surprises, in which case you might face a dilemma!)," Ros added.
#13
I lost my virginity at 15 to a person in their 30s, the classic “wow you’re so mature for your age” schtick.
I’m 37 now and while I’ve tried to drop hints a few friends, and while I suspect my mum realised after the fact, nobody in my real life knows still.
In my first proper (age appropriate!) relationship, I didn’t mention it early on, and the right time just never happened.
At parties during those late night confessional circles in the kitchen, I’ve never come close to blurting that one out, and I realised it’s because I just don’t want to.
The way I see it now is, it doesn’t bother me in my day-to-day life, it doesn’t impact my self worth, I have a lot of compassion for my teenage self being so desperate to feel cool and grown-up.
I thought about going to the cops about it but 1: I live in another country now, 2: any criminal charges would be pretty minimal and 3: I don’t have any old ancient MSN chat logs, no cellphone back then, so the idea of digging it up only to fail to achieve anything without written proof is pretty horrible.
I found the person on Facebook about a decade ago and they were a gross old loser complaining about everything and everyone on their wall virtually every day, a person pushing 50 posting emo memes, so at least karma has made their life s**t.
I’m 37 now and while I’ve tried to drop hints a few friends, and while I suspect my mum realised after the fact, nobody in my real life knows still.
In my first proper (age appropriate!) relationship, I didn’t mention it early on, and the right time just never happened.
At parties during those late night confessional circles in the kitchen, I’ve never come close to blurting that one out, and I realised it’s because I just don’t want to.
The way I see it now is, it doesn’t bother me in my day-to-day life, it doesn’t impact my self worth, I have a lot of compassion for my teenage self being so desperate to feel cool and grown-up.
I thought about going to the cops about it but 1: I live in another country now, 2: any criminal charges would be pretty minimal and 3: I don’t have any old ancient MSN chat logs, no cellphone back then, so the idea of digging it up only to fail to achieve anything without written proof is pretty horrible.
I found the person on Facebook about a decade ago and they were a gross old loser complaining about everything and everyone on their wall virtually every day, a person pushing 50 posting emo memes, so at least karma has made their life s**t.
55points
#14
My house was in foreclosure when covid hit. The only thing that saved me was they pretty much made foreclosures illegal. Since I work at a grocery store I was able to work a ton of hours and get caught up. there was nothing else to do. It totally turned my life around. I feel bad because it was a horrible time of suffering for so many but it worked out pretty good for me.
52points
#15
It was I who hoisted the naked mannequin on the high school flag pole.
52points
#16
My employer pays my power, cell phone, water and internet bills. They also provide my housing and a vehicle.
The cell phone bill is completely legit because I have to be reachable. The housing is as well as I am stationed at a location where I have to be accessible to equipment. The truck is company issued, but they allow me drive it whenever and wherever I want. They pay for all fuel and maintenance.
The internet bill is from the fact that I have an employer issued iPad that I run as a hot spot at home. Since it is a government job, Verizon doesn’t throttle or cap data. I’m deep into terabytes now.
My well pump is powered by them.
My power bill is because they hooked up temporary power before I moved here and forgot to disconnect it. I’ve never said anything.
I’m able to save a lot of money for retirement as I have no monthly bills.
The cell phone bill is completely legit because I have to be reachable. The housing is as well as I am stationed at a location where I have to be accessible to equipment. The truck is company issued, but they allow me drive it whenever and wherever I want. They pay for all fuel and maintenance.
The internet bill is from the fact that I have an employer issued iPad that I run as a hot spot at home. Since it is a government job, Verizon doesn’t throttle or cap data. I’m deep into terabytes now.
My well pump is powered by them.
My power bill is because they hooked up temporary power before I moved here and forgot to disconnect it. I’ve never said anything.
I’m able to save a lot of money for retirement as I have no monthly bills.
50points
#17
This girl bullied the hell out of me at school so i stole her phone and flushed it down the toilet. This was pre iphone era.
49points
#18
In middle school, I frequented a skating rink with my friends. I was extremely depressed, and was self harming. The owner ran the kitchen and one day he noticed the cuts on my arms. The grown man made fun of me for cutting myself.. directly to my face. He told me I should just k**l myself. I was 12 years old.
I’m 30 now and can only assume he’s in his late 60s or 70s. Every time I go home to visit my family, I make a point to go the long way so I can pass his house. When all of his lights are off late at night, I blare my horn while driving approximately 10 MPH.
I’m 30 now and can only assume he’s in his late 60s or 70s. Every time I go home to visit my family, I make a point to go the long way so I can pass his house. When all of his lights are off late at night, I blare my horn while driving approximately 10 MPH.
49points
#19
In high school this guy broke up with our friend and in revenge we tp’d his house 3 times in the same week. His mom told him he’d obviously done something since they were targeting the house that aggressively and made him clean it up himself every time. He approached me very stressed and asked if I knew anything about it. I told him no, and I was sorry he was so stressed. He left by saying, you’re so innocent I figured you wouldn’t know who was doing this. Sir, I drove the girls over in my car every time! 😂.
40points
#20
We had a high school senior day trip on a cruise around a major city. We, of course, had to sign and pay prior to the day of the cruise. My best friend, at first, didn’t want to go but on the day of, she realised she didn’t want to spend the day at school, but wanted to get out of class and do this cheap a*s cruise with our senior class.
She didn’t pay, but when they stamped the back of my hand after confirming my name, I noticed the ink was still wet. Without even thinking, I pulled her to the corner, away from teachers, and pressed the back of my hand to hers. The stamp transferred perfectly and she got on the bus with us.
That was over 10 years ago and I still consider her a great friend. Sometimes when we talk, we reminisce how I snuck her onto that trip.
She didn’t pay, but when they stamped the back of my hand after confirming my name, I noticed the ink was still wet. Without even thinking, I pulled her to the corner, away from teachers, and pressed the back of my hand to hers. The stamp transferred perfectly and she got on the bus with us.
That was over 10 years ago and I still consider her a great friend. Sometimes when we talk, we reminisce how I snuck her onto that trip.
38points