Everyone has secrets. That said, not everyone has secrets of the life-ruining sort…though if Reddit is any indication, there are more of those floating around than you might think.

These 18 people are holding onto some doozies, but they felt good about letting it out on Reddit.

18. I don’t remember it.

Got busted with a lot of computers from my work, about $25K worth, and plead guilty to Grand Theft (F). They spelled my name wrong, wrong birthday, and I never gave them my DL or SSN. “I don’t remember it,” I said over and over during my 90-day incarceration.

That was 34 years ago and I background check my name every few years with a racy heart each time.

Nope. Not there.

17. Why re-invent the wheel?

To pass my high-school graduation writing exam, I just wrote the story to Gears Of War because I didn’t study or prepare beforehand.

16. A college education.

I sold weed (like multiple pounds a week) to pay for college. My parents think I got a scholarship and that’s why I didn’t take out more than like $10k in SLs (just my first year).

15. Time to cut them out of your life.

That my uncle raped and prostituted me out for drugs when I was 7. I’ve tried talking to my parents about my mental health before, and it’s always ended badly, so I just don’t try anymore.

If they found this out, I am certain they wouldn’t believe me, would gossip to everyone about what a liar I am, and I’d be even more of a black sheep in my family.

And if they did happen to believe me, I’m sure they’d find a way to blame me.

14. She handled it.

A cousin of mine tried to rape me when I was young and years later I tried to drown him with a hose (I put the hose at maximum in his throat) but when I heard my parents coming I stopped, after that I said to him: if you tell anyone about this Im going to really kill you, but we didn’t saw each other after that because his family moved to another state

13. At least it’s over.

I don’t think it would ruin my life, but my dad would be pretty disappointed if he knew how much meth I did when I was 18. I don’t do it any more, but I used to have week long binges, so high and sleep deprived I’d start hallucinating.

I still think about it sometimes, I’m grateful I couldn’t afford to use it any more, honestly. I guess I just wanted to get that off my chest.

12. This is probably pretty common.

I used to masturbate in the school bathroom when I was in 8th grade.

11. Don’t bottle it up.

This question always makes me wonder about the horrible secrets that people can’t bring themselves to talk about, even in a semi-anonymous place like reddit.

The people here who have spoken up already have pretty intense secrets. Just imagine the secrets that go unshared.

10. This cannot be real.

When I was 11 I was told to take out the trash and I did but (for context my family had a grill with a box of matches next to it and it was fall) but I burned some dead leaves for like 2 minutes then I stomped on them to put out the fire but all did was push it right next to our house and then the house went up the flames and my parents had very well paying jobs so they were able to pay for the damages.

But when the authorities came and firefighters put out the fire, they were wondering how it started and the authorities suspected someone jumped to the fence and lit up the leaves to burn our house down.

Our parents scared for my life moved somewhere else and they lost the jobs and lost a lot of money moving to our new house and for the next solid 7 years we lived like shit. and my parents still do not know that I’m the reason they have to look like that.

9. What if someone tells?

Imagine how many people are typing their secrets just to completely erase on the last sentence and not post at all.

8. I’m sure it felt huge at the time.

One time in elementary school, there was this really big important test… I was out sick that day, as were a handful of other kids (flu season). There were like 6 of us total who had to make up the test, we were put in a separate room and told to be quiet and focus on our tests, our teacher would be checking on us very soon. A few minutes after she left, a voice calls out “… does anyone know the answer to number 7?”

Next thing you know, we’ve got one kid looking out at the door while we all discuss and tell each other the answers. I think the teacher checked on us once after a while but we were already mostly done and at a lull.

We all got A’s and high B’s.

I know this isn’t a life-ruining secret, but I’ve been holding that in for almost 20 years lol.

7. Unrecognizable.

That I was a heroin addict in my 20s. Been clean 9 years, and no one I work with, or associate with at this point in my life (besides wife, kids, and immediate family) realize that 10 years ago I was an unrecognizable shell of who I am now…

6. A secret side hustle.

I draw furry p**n and make great money off of it. I have a normal job but I use the art money for things I want like expensive clothes or bath and body works candles

edit; I just woke up and too many of y’all responded and I don’t have time for this.

Anyways, this isn’t a job you drop everything fo nor can you live off. It’s a side hustle and gets me the little things I want on the side. It’s mostly discord commissions and I’m not telling you the type of art it is too embarrassed <3

5. Code of ethics.

I’m mixed up in the fast food game.

Sometimes I tell the homeless people around the corner what time we throw out the expired burgers, so they can grab them from the trash.

It’s explicitly banned in our code of ethics that we sign when we start.

4. Hopefully some day.

I grew up in a religious community and was molested by some church leaders. I am also certain I was molested by either my father or my uncle, but I think I blocked it out. I have scars on my body from cigarette burns from one of them, so I’m 99% sure I know which one.

I was raped when I was 16 by a classmate and it really messed me up for awhile, and it still comes back to haunt me here and there because I’ve never gotten therapy for it. I gained a substantial amount of weight on purpose to get everyone to stop touching me.

I lost most of the weight in my 20’s. I haven’t been in a relationship in 7 years because my last boyfriend died. I’ve grieved him, but I still haven’t found love since. I want to, but I’m also scared of getting with someone awful.

I have had therapy for this loss, but my therapist stopped seeing me due to an insurance mishap. Even after I got it sorted, he does not want to see me anymore. It’s fine.

I want so badly to get married, have kids, and finish school, but I don’t believe that anyone will love me with my scars and loose skin. That’s killing me inside, because I’ve come a long way, but I am horrifically lonely with this. I decided that if I cannot make this happen by the time I’m 35, I’m done with trying for love. I’ll be 30 this year.

I can’t tell anyone this because of the lectures, and because I’d be considered all sorts of unstable. I want to have normalcy in my life. Also, I can’t have my mother know this because I know she truly could not handle knowing that. She doesn’t deserve to carry the burden of knowing how truly unhappy I am from time to time, and how some parts of my life have been horrific. She did the best she could, and she deserves to know she isn’t a failure as a mother.

She only knows about my boyfriend dying, and it was hard to see her worry about me. I tried to keep it together for her, but she doesn’t know how much I really suffer.

Seeing her break like that would ruin me. I don’t need anything else to devastate me in this life. I also rarely talk about everything that has happened because someone I confided in tried to blackmail me with it. It was awful.

I have done a damn good job handling everything, all things considered. I am not a criminal, I’m a nursing student, I have a job, and I think a lot of people surrounding me would be floored if they knew what kind of pain I have inside me because of how good I am to people and how I’m usually the one helping with positivity, etc.

Hopefully someday, I can tell someone close to me again and have my wishes with it respected. Until then, it’s only here in my lonely anonymity.

3. The stories ran her life.

I had a horrible compulsive lying problem when I was a teenager. My stories ran my whole life, in which I completely ruined it before it can start and it made me worse in the head.

Bottled up my feelings for many years, recently have been getting therapy and meds, and had chosen to ‘ruin’ my life by admitting the truth to those I lied to. Some don’t talk to me anymore, in which I understand. It felt good and also horrible to tell the truth.

Atleast I don’t do that anymore. If you have a similar issue, please talk to someone. Don’t make it worse like I did.

2. All you need is one reason.

I often think of suicide. I have two kids and they’re the only reasons I am here.

1. Always a stigma.

Ive kept on the down low i use to be an alcoholic. I used to live in one state and moved to another so it made it easier. I went to rehab and detox, after aftercare program.

Afterwards a sober home and my own apartment but its always a stigma if i let anyone know my journey. Im 31 and Honestly its sucks because I want to break free from lying but its tough because I believe anyone I tell will judge me and not want to talk to me.

Its easier to lie. And its worked so well so far so why fix whats not broken. But I also get how it can eventually catch up. Just stuck in the middle.

Well, this has inspired me not to keep any secrets.

I don’t want to be responsible for ruining lives!