By Josephine Amoako

Ever felt suffocated by some secret you’ve tried to keep from the ones you care about? It’s like trying not to barf even when you know you need to. The puking may be unpleasant, but the relief afterward is rewarding. Then you wonder why you were killing yourself, trying to keep it down.

Why do we even try to make secrets out of things that don’t need to be kept as such? Why do we torment and deprive ourselves of sleep  over issues which aren’t matters of life and death? What is it about confession that scares us so much?

We tend to keep things to ourselves because we are afraid of what our significant others would think of us. We are scared of seeing that look of disappointment or despise in their eyes and to lose the respect they have for us. But life and movies teach us that delayed confession can create dire consequences for us and hurt our loved ones in more ways than we ever anticipated.

We are all humans; made of flesh and blood, susceptible to errors and emotional reactions. We all stand the chance of doing the wrong thing or making the wrong choice at one point in time. And people have the right to react according to the shock or disappointment they feel. We can’t escape that initial response, be it positive or negative.

But we need to give people the benefit of the doubt, we have to believe  that they will try to understand our actions and eventually forgive us for our mistakes. Trying to keep secrets from them implies that we don’t trust them enough to see us as the flawed humans that we are and to help us through it.

Is there something you’re hiding from someone close to you? Your parent, spouse, child or friend? Is it because you’re afraid of how they might take it? Why not trust them to let them know? You might be surprised how well they will take it. And you will feel some relief from releasing the information you’ve kept bottled up inside, information that started to suck up your peace.

Just as there’s relief in confessing how one feels towards another; so is it with letting out whatever makes you feel bad or ashamed. In doing so, you relieve yourself of the guilt and you have someone looking out for you, making sure you don’t go down that road again.

Are you ready to make that confession today?