The Confessions

"I told my husband the reason I did not want children was medical. It is not medical. I simply do not want them and was afraid he would leave if I said so plainly. He deserved honesty and I gave him a story."

"I wrote a negative anonymous review of my former employer that was not entirely fair. I was angry when I wrote it. That review is still up there and still affecting their recruitment. I have considered removing it and have not."

"There is someone I have loved quietly from a distance for four years. They are in a relationship. I have never said a word. I do not intend to. But carrying it alone is its own particular weight."

"I once deliberately excluded someone from a group chat we set up for a night out. I told the others I had forgotten to add them. I had not forgotten. I just did not want them there and was too cowardly to say so. They found out and I watched their face fall and said nothing."

"I told a child their drawing was not very good. They were five. They had worked hard on it and showed it to me with such pride. I do not know why I said what I said. Their face changed completely. I have never forgotten the speed with which I extinguished that small joy."

"I told an ex I had moved on and was completely fine. I was not fine. I drove past her house three times that week. I am embarrassed by who I was then."

"I talked myself out of starting my own business three times over ten years. Too risky, not the right time, not ready. Someone else started the exact business I had planned two years ago. They are doing exceptionally well. I will never know if I would have."

"I reported a colleague for something I knew was an exaggeration because I felt threatened by how quickly they were progressing. They were put on a performance plan. They eventually left. I got the promotion. I have not had a peaceful night since."

"I promised to keep quiet about something and kept quiet about it for years until it no longer mattered and then told someone casually as an anecdote. The person it involved heard about it secondhand. They did not react badly. But I had promised and I broke that promise and dressed it as harmless."

"I have been married for fourteen years and I still think about someone I knew briefly at university. Not romantically exactly. More like wondering who I would have become if I had been brave enough to pursue that path. My wife is wonderful. The thought still comes."