Honesty is one of the many keys to a healthy and happy relationship. However, people sometimes feel the need to keep certain things to themselves and not tell their significant other. The many responses in this Reddit thread proved that to be true. Here is what some people had to say.
1."My WFH job is pretty easy. The week or two around a deadline can be busy, but most of the time, it's a laid-back 25-30 hours a week. He's working long hours at a stressful job. I feel bad telling him I'm mostly just listening to podcasts, working, and getting things done around the house at a leisurely pace all day."
2."Sometimes, her ambitions get in the way of living an actual life. Like Bill Withers said, 'It's okay to head out for wonderful. But when you get to alright, stop and take a look around. Because this might be as far as you need to go.'"
4."How challenging it is to navigate through their depressive episodes. Some days, I'm exhausted from picking up the slack, caring for the kids, and working. It's hard to find compassion. I know he didn't choose this. Some days are just harder than others, and today was one of those days."
5."That I think his mom is a terrible person because she didn't protect him and their relationship is super weird."
6."I occasionally take a day off work to have some time to myself. I love them dearly, but I cherish having the apartment to myself, watching what I want on TV, and enjoying solitude. It's my secret mental health day."
7."I know when he's feeling shitty and insecure. He has come a long way since we met, but growing up in an abusive household where his AH father constantly put him down, he has a lot of issues of self-worth and can lapse into a dark place he thinks he hides. This doesn't happen nearly as much as it used to, but when it does, I'll purposely let him catch me creeping on him or tease him about someone checking him out. I'll have conversations about what a great person he is and how lucky I am. I'll make sure I'm far enough away that he thinks I think he can't hear. I make excuses to avoid his brother (his brother will touch every insecure nerve he has as brothers do; I enjoy his brother's company, so we make up for it when my husband is in a better head space). I message his friends to encourage them to arrange boys' nights out and push my husband to go. As manipulative as it is, I want him to see himself through my eyes."
10."When we first met, he made me promise, 'If I ever gain too much weight, you have to tell me to hit the gym.' We laughed about it, but that was almost five years ago. Now, he has gotten pretty overweight, and I don't know if I'm supposed to keep my promise or just let him choose his own path with his weight. I'm still attracted to and love him more than ever, but I want him to be healthy."
11."That I dated her half-sister in high school. They've always had different last names, and it was separated by 10 years and never got serious enough to meet parents, and by the time I met them with the current girlfriend, it seemed best not to bring it up, and her sister feels the same way."
12."My partner is a widower whose wife died three years before we met. His love for her is so beautiful to me, but I will never tell him that after our first date together, his wife came to me in a dream, and we had a whole conversation where I promised her that I would love and cherish him and take such good care of him. He is a giver and has difficulty accepting anything for himself. He also made a promise to himself to donate blood after she passed because she required so much of it when she was sick. He doesn't know that I've started to donate blood to honor his promise to her and also to thank her for watching over us. Sometimes, it's just too hard for him to go."
15."I had lunch with his ex around the time we started dating, and they had been broken up for a year. She reached out to me on my work email and wanted to chat. We went out to lunch. She seemed nice and deeply hurt because he had moved on. She still seemed to care about him. We never spoke after that day, and I've never mentioned this in our 16 years of marriage."
16."I haven't been happy since he asked me for a divorce a couple of years ago. I was ready to follow through, and at the last minute, he backtracked, but he never said he was sorry, and I haven't been able to come back from that fully. I don't think I love him the same since."
