The Confessions

"I told my last partner that I needed space to work on myself. The truth is I had already emotionally checked out six months before and just did not have the courage to say so. Space was a kindly worded exit."

"I told my partner I had never been jealous in a relationship. What I meant was I had learned to hide it so well even I sometimes forgot it was there."

"I ghosted someone who was kind, funny and clearly into me because they were not conventionally attractive and I was worried what my friends would think. I am ashamed of that version of myself."

"I ended a perfectly good relationship because I was convinced something better was out there. That was eleven years ago. I have not had a relationship last longer than eight months since. I think about her more than I should."

"I have been with my partner for six years and I have never once told them about my debt. They think we are financially equal. We are not. I am afraid that if they knew the real number they would leave."

"I once drunkenly kissed someone at a work party. My partner never found out. It meant nothing but the nothing of it almost made it worse. I have been a better partner every day since. The guilt does not diminish."

"I read my partners messages while they slept. I found nothing. No betrayal, no lies, nothing but kind words about me to their friends. I still check sometimes. I think the problem has always been me not them."

"I have never told my husband that the first year of our marriage I genuinely was not sure we had done the right thing. I kept waiting for the feeling to pass. It did pass. But those twelve months I carried alone were the loneliest of my life."

"I pretended not to receive a message from someone who loved me because I did not know how to tell them I did not feel the same. I left them wondering for weeks. That was cruel and I knew it was cruel when I was doing it."

"I have to confess that many years ago I told my best friend I had always really cared for them and would do anything to help, yet when they really needed I just wasn't there for them. They did so much for me and truly loved me shown by their actions. I just didn't show up for them. I was so full of myself. I still wake in the night thinking how badly I let them down."