It’s pretty well understood at this point that the anonymity (or just generally distancing shield) provided by the internet can turn us into the worst, most vicious versions of ourselves.

But it can also help us open up a bit, like these people on Reddit.

What’s your biggest secret? from AskReddit

The secrets really run a range between despairing and…well, just odd.

1. The background character

I become emotionally invested in everyone because my biggest fear is finding out I’m a background character in my own life.

Often times people will tell me stories forgetting I was there. It’s happened my whole life, yet it still hits me just as hard.

– SatcasticPsyientist

2. How the cookie crumbles

I have a beautiful wife and 2 amazing kids, but I feel like I can barely make it through the day.

I hate my job. I hate 98% of the community I live in. And I’ve totally lost the ability to stay informed and not lose my mind.

Also, when I was 20, I once gave a toddler a cookie with extremely hot hot sauce on it.

– drunkmonkey176

3. No kidding

I wish I had stopped at one kid. I love my second kid, but between the epilepsy and the autism and all the behavioral problems, she’s an enormous burden and we aren’t able to give our first child all the attention that he needs and deserves because she takes up so much of our time and energy.

She’s never going to live on her own and she’s going to live with me or with her mom for the rest of our lives.

– Throwaway__19010

4. No one knows what they’re doing

I have no idea what I want to do with my life and I don’t think I ever will, I have hobbies and a job but I have no drive for a career or lifelong goal beyond owning a house instead of renting.

Kinda sucks since your career is how your worth is judged in society these days.

– decidedlyDesolate

5. The big tease

I keep leading people on.

I don’t feel like my brain and I are capable of forming another loving relationship. I am still so deeply bent and confused from my last long term relationship that ended due to his cheating. I come off like it never bothered me what happened, like it never happened to begin with. I sit with someone on a date and I can’t help but point out the similarities between my ex and them. Yet I have not had feelings for him in a year. Everyone said I got over it really well.

But I think about it every day. For an entire year.

– sluttychrist

6. The money game

Not one for many secrets but I haven’t told my family about a nice promotion that I received around 8 month ago.

My family is notorious for talking about everyone’s salaries and jobs and I just wish to no longer contribute to it. I make more than anyone besides my brother who is doctor, but I don’t bother sharing it because there’s no point. Nobody needs to compare their salary to mine as we all have wildly different careers.

– McJumpington

7. The big snip

I’m about to have a vasectomy at age 25. I have told only my GF and my best friend.

It mainly bothers me that I can’t tell my parents, but I know they’d lose their minds because of how much they want grandkids.

They ask me about it often, but I hate lying to them.

– Hawkseye458

8. Remember when?

My brain has been making up “memories” for some years now, to the point that I have a hard time trusting any memories I have.

Makes me feel like I’m going insane most of the time, especially due to the severity of the fake “memories” (many are of things that would be severely traumatic if it had really happened)

– RoseOfHearts

9. Empty and blissful nothingness

i’m married with two beautiful children and sometimes i get incredibly close to driving my car until it runs out of gas, sleeping wherever it is, and never leaving again.

no more phones, social media, parenting, work, housework. nothing. empty and blissful nothingness.

i love my life. i love my husband and my kids more than life. but the nothingness calls to me more than i ever thought possible.

– allamb772

10. Keeping it tight

I wear a girdle under my clothes when I’m in public as I’m incredibly self conscious of my love handles.

I’m male and the only person who knows is my wife, she thinks I don’t need to, but without it I feel disgusting.

– copey25

11. The guilt

Someone relied on me for happiness, and when they passed I was relieved.

I wish I felt guilty, but I don’t, I feel relief.

I wonder if I’m narcissistic, or too apathetic, but I can’t pretend… I don’t care about their death. :[

– Spiritual_Nectarine5

12. Cheater cheater

I graduated and passed my basic calculus and other math-related subjects in high school (Grade 12) this year without knowing a thing about them I just copied my classmates from simple quizzes to exams lol I can’t believe I survived that, but I’m fine with the other subjects so yeah, I ended up like this because I procrastinated so hard.

– XXJ99

13. Take this job and shove it

I hate my job. Which is actually a really good job to have.

But I get bored so easy. And I know lots of people in my field who love the job. I’m here for the pay. That’s it. I’d quit tomorrow if I could. But then I remember it took me 15 years to get here and it would be a waste. Plus my wife and kids would suffer if I did. They think I love what I do.

35 more years of this. Don’t know if I can do that.

– CothersMunt

14. Just a fantasy?

I love thinking about having a partner in the future and possibly being really happy as I get older, but in the back of my head I really can’t fathom someone ever actually falling in love with me.

at all.

– minervaonmars

15. The phantom menace

Not really a secret to my loved ones, but I get incredibly irritable with people I live with and I can’t figure out why.

I always think I have a justified reason for being angry and irritable even though I almost never really do.

It hurts me and my family a lot and I feel helpless even though it’s my actions.

– DangOlRedditMan

I guess it goes to show that you just never know what someone you meet might be going through.

Do you have a secret you’d like to share?

Put it in the comments.