Member-only story
Please Stop Telling People Everything
It’s Just Some Advice
I’ve kept a treasure under my tongue for years. Whole words that never transformed into sound. Stories that aged inside me like wine in oak barrels.
I confess: my chest hurts from holding so much in.
I grew up in a house where the walls had ears but no mouth. Adults spoke in code, exchanging mysterious glances over our heads. “There are things you don’t tell,” they said. And so we all learned — each well-kept secret was a medal of honor, proof of character.
You know the feeling?
That weight that settles in your gut when you swallow words that should be spoken?
That pressure in your chest when you lock truths away?
I once read that secrets have their own density. They occupy physical space inside us. They compete with our lungs for the right to exist in the same body. We breathe less when we carry too many.
Think about the people you’ve admired throughout your life. They weren’t the ones who maintained a perfect, flawless facade. They were the ones who dared to show their seams, their patches, the cracks in their armor. Those whose words came out whole, without filter or polish.
When we keep everything to ourselves, we lose the chance to discover that we’re not alone in our imperfections. The scars we hide could be bridges to others. The doubts we silence could be echoes of their own questions.
The world has become expert in editing. We’ve learned to polish every photograph, every story, every version of ourselves. But life isn’t a curated gallery — it’s a chaotic explosion of contradictory moments. It’s precisely in that chaos that we recognize each other.
Remember the last time someone told you a difficult truth? How the air in the room seemed more breathable afterward? How your eyes met with an almost painful transparency?
There’s a particular magic in that exchange. An alchemy that transforms confessions into healing.
I’m not suggesting you turn every thought into a public declaration. Nor that you use honesty as a weapon or as an alibi for cruelty. There’s a fundamental difference between sharing truths and dumping…
