"Secrets, secrets, are no fun. Secrets, secrets, hurt someone." A silly rhyme made famous by The Office, its lesson still holds up. People keep secrets because they're afraid once the secret gets out someone will get hurt. Typically, they overestimate the amount. No one's going to care you stole gum when you were 5-years-old.
However, these are not those kinds of secrets.
Well, not all of them.
Reddit user, u/MoistPotatoPeel, wanted the sauciest secrets when they asked:
What is the biggest/longest secret you've kept?
Jealousy Breeds Action
GiphyI killed my best friends fish while watching it for her while she was on vacation. Then I replaced it with a fish that looked nothing like it and told everyone that they were crazy for thinking that it wasn't the same fish.
Edit- it was accidental, and the fishes were the same type of fish but they just didn't look the same. i also watched it for two weeks and it just happened to die on the last day. And to top it off the fish that I bought to replace the other one died a week later.
so concluding RIP Jackie O'Conner (yes, she actually named her fish that)
A Horrifying Find
My sister's cat died during the night a couple days ago, and I'm the one who found her in the morning. I lied to my sister about how I found her. I said she was lying on the ground and possibly had a heart attack (which would explain her eyes being wide open, I couldn't close them).
I actually found her trapped, under the dining table, hanging between two chairs with her front legs, with her head back. She must have fallen and couldn't free herself (she didn't have good control of her claws anymore). She looked like Jesus on the cross, completely stiff from rigor mortis. I was f-cking horrified and still can't get the image out of my head. It hurts me so much to know that her last moments were of suffering. I now can't ever tell my sister how it really happened.
Edit: To slightly soften the story, she was a very old cat, about to turn 20 years old. What was unbelievable was that it was on the morning of the day we had booked a vet appointment to put her to sleep. My sister actually feels relief that she died 'naturally' rather than being taken to a strange place she didn't know. I can't share the same sentiment, sadly, but I'm just relieved that she is relieved.
Unable To Complete A Last Request
I have a relative who committed suicide, and next to their note, they left a small stack of things they wanted to be buried with. Several days after the funeral, the director of the funeral home called my mom and let her know that sadly, the items my relative wanted to be buried with did not get put in the coffin.
It happens sometimes, and he told mom that they try to contact the family member who seems least likely to lose their sh-t over it. I'm paraphrasing of course, but my mom was the perfect person; the woman is unflappable. Mom went up to the funeral home and they returned the items to her.
She told me the story once, and that nobody in the family knew, but that she wanted me to know where the items were in case she passed before she found an appropriate time to give the items to my relative's kids (it was some photographs of my relative with family and friends, and then a wedding ring).
The kids were very young so it wasn't appropriate for her to give it to them at the time. It's been well over 20 years, and I don't think she has ever passed the things on. We have never discussed it again, and I haven't ever told anyone. One day I am sure I'll have to have that conversation with one or both of my relative's kids, but until then, this is the only time I've said anything about it.
Two People Stuck In A Trap
That my mother was abusive to me as a kid. I kept it for 22 years. I told my dad a few months back. I told him in anger because I blamed him for letting it happen.
He truly didn't know the extent, she kept it well hidden.
He then explained to me that he tried to protect me from her and he did when he was around. He told me he'd been in an abusive relationship with her. She separated him from every friend and family member he had. She took his entire paycheck and wouldn't let him have a card.
She told him he couldn't leave her because she'd never allow him to see me again.
My dads not perfect and he left me in dangerous situations but he tried at least. And now both of our 20+ year secrets are out to each other.
The Most Heinous Crime...For A 7 Year-Old
I loaned a bunch of books from the Library in 2001 (as a 7 year old). Found them in my room 3 years later. My 10 year old mind was convinced the cops would come looking for me cause of it so I neatly disposed of the books in a manner that will ensure they'll never be found again.
Unless someone cleans up the basement... well, time to visit my parents.
A Ticking Deadline
The most recent one. I dropped out of university 3 months ago and my parents don't know... I'm planning on moving out in 2/3 weeks because that's how long I have before everything comes out (probably, if I don't make something else up)... I'm at square zero on my plan to move but honestly I can't live here anymore.
I'm 'the smart one' so they wouldn't guess I'd actually drop out despite it being overwhelmingly obvious... It was a pretty drastic decision, but I don't regret it... I do have a few options on how to move my plan forward in such a short time, and I do have some pretty drastic measures too, but the end goal is clear and I'll get there, no matter what... Wish me luck
Keeping The End At Bay
I've been suicidal for most of my life - starting from when I began to develop OCD as a child.
The feeling has not gone away since and I'm now 22. The only people who know this about me are the few counsellors I have seen - not a single family member or friend because I know they will overreact.
Dad Doesn't Need To Know Right Now
That I knew my mom was having an affair when I was 11. My dad found out a year later and they got a divorce but I acted like I was shocked. I'm 23 now and only came clean last year
A Family Member Out Of The Blue
My 2 cousins have a brother somewhere. My aunt had gotten pregnant before she married my uncle and gave the baby up for adoption.
I've never mentioned it to anyone until now, so it's been almost 20 years.
Turns Out You Can Pick Your Family
I've never told anyone outside of my family about my dad. I told all my friends that my stepdad was actually my real dad, when my real dad lives on the other side of the planet (I moved countries when I was a kid, and have only really seen my dad once since then).
My real dad was an actual piece of sh-t, he abused and manipulated, both me, my mother and all four of my brothers, and would lash out all the time through a drunken rage. And so, when my mum remarried, my steep-dad became a real father to me, and so I always just called him by my dad. It's probably not the biggest secret, but its something I have just never really told people.
A Lie For The Years
I had once told my friend in the 7th grade I had a girlfriend and it went on until the 10th grade when I actually got a girlfriend. All my friends were 'pleased' to meet her finally.
A Bonding Experience?
My ex admitted to me that he watched porn with his mom as an adult. They would watch porn when they were bored, in the living room, while his father/her husband slept upstairs.
I was mortified. I asked him if he felt any way about it, and he said he thought it was funny. Not funny as in disturbing. But "hahaha" funny. He thought I was weird for finding it weird.
I broke up with him shortly after that for this reason, but never told anyone about it until now.
No, No, I Promise! I Was Cleaning It!
This is not as serious as the other stories I've seen so far but it is one of my most closely guarded secrets. I currently have a deep scar on my left index finger, it has been there since middle School when I was messing around with a knife and a sweet potato. My mindset was, "if I lightly chop the sweet potato while holding it with my unprotected hand, nothing bad could happen."
Lo and behold, I was rushed to the E.R. with a cut so deep, I legitimately thought I almost amputated the finger. The circumstances behind this were so embarrassing, I quickly made up a story about me cleaning the knife and the knife slipping and slicing my finger. To this day, I still tell my family that it was a knife cleaning accident.
How Do You Go To Reunions?
My sister told me a few years ago that she and our cousin had a sexual relationship that started when they were in their 20s and continued on and off for years. In that time they both married other people who never suspected a thing because, you know: cousins.
This was not a cousin she met in adulthood and didn't feel related to. We grew up seeing him and his family once or twice a year.
Ratted Out By The Mom
GiphyI was touring Australia for six months with my girl friend Jan who's twin sister had lost her son to cot death a few months before we left. Jan was devastated but still really wanted to go to Oz with me. Her twin sis had given birth to a second son about three months after the death and when we left for down under the boy was about three months old and a big focus of love for everyone after the shock of the cot death.
Every week Jan would ring home and talk to her mother. At the end of the second week the mother asked to speak to me. This was unusual. We did not have much to say to each other normally so I was surprised. It turns out she wanted me to know the second son had been diagnosed with Leukemia, but whatever happened I should not tell Jan as it would spoil her holiday.
She was right that it would devastate Jan and that she would want to leave at once, and to be honest there was nothing she could have done even had she returned.
So I sat on this awful news for nearly six months. To make it worse her mother told her on our return that I knew about the diagnosis from the start, so it was one of those circumstances where you can never win.
We're Less Related Than You Think
My "half brother" isn't actually related to me at all. Because my dad's ex wife cheated on him and got pregnant. Everyone knows but my half brother.
Wrongfully Framed
My house was raided for child pornography.
Agents came through, searched every room, collected every storage device and questioned me. I promptly said I would not talk without a lawyer.
My wife was bawling, I told her to not talk without a lawyer. After an about four hours all of the agents left with every electronic device. Then they handed me the warrant.
Apparently my IP address was detected.
After counseling and a lot of communication my wife and I agreed to not tell anyone about this. Not family, not friends, no one. We moved from the house because it just made us uneasy being there.
After THREE years of fighting with the agency we finally got all of our devices back. The devices they took were the only copies of all of our photos, so it was one of the happiest days ever. It turns out one of our neighbors was using our WiFi (which had an easy 8 letter lower case password). Once they didn't find anything on our devices they did a search of the neighbor.
TLDR - use a good WiFi password or bad sh-t can happen
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.