A lot of us silently observe life and keep many of our thoughts to ourselves, so when Reddit user u/Donald_the_pig asked people to share something they wouldn't say to people they actually know, the responses were wildly interesting.
1. "I wish I was taught to have boundaries and to say 'no.' It’s annoying I’m discovering this so late in life."
2. "I wanna tell my best friend 'I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere. Even with you,' but I feel like it would crush her. We love each other to bits, but I always feel second-rate to her other friends."
3. "I don't understand ambition at all. I've drifted through my life fairly successfully, but never really had the goals or drive to be or achieve a certain thing."
4. "I’m happiest when I’m alone."
5. "Being nice all the time is shit."
6. "My thoughts are 95% me running through scenarios that have never happened and never will with myself and people I’ve met or know"
7. "I still cry over my childhood dog. He was my best and only friend up until I was around 12. Every day I’d come home and hug him in order to forget about the excessive bullying I received at school. I know I should be over it by now but I can’t let go of him."
8. "I wish literally anybody would ever message me first. Feels like I always have to be the one to reach out to my friends. Not sure if it’s just them not wanting to bother me if I’m busy or they just really don’t care if they talk to me or not."
9. "I wish I wasn’t using my phone the whole day."
10. "The thought of having to work a job the rest of my life depresses the shit out of me. I can’t believe that this is the reality for me and most humans and there’s no way to escape it from it."
11. "I am a former overachiever who has amounted to nothing. The hopes and pressure from those around me made it harder to realize that being good in school doesn’t mean you are actually smart, and if not for them I might have set my sights lower and actually succeeded at something."
12. "I hate falling in love. I’m single, not because I don’t want to invest in a relationship, but because I hate to put expectations on another person. I don’t want to hassle someone with my emotions. It’s something I’m trying to work on."
13. "School is fucking exhausting. I really find myself wondering why I drain myself to adhere to social norms and achieve social mobility."
14. "I’m deathly afraid of displeasing people literally for no reason, even people I don’t like. I always need social gratification, even though it plays no part in how I truly feel about myself."
15. "I feel like I'm in a constant limbo. I'll be 30 in less than a year's time and I still have no idea what I want to do with my life."
16. "I come off like I'm a carefree person, but I'm the most paranoid person ever."
17. "I feel like I’m losing my social skills in isolation during the pandemic."
18. "Despite being 'successful' at life in the eyes of friends and family by having a career and being able to live on my own, I don’t recall the last time I felt happy."
19. "I am terrified of death. Not the event, but the concept. All learnings, memories, experience — it all just ends. You can’t take it with you. I can’t fathom that one day it just ends."
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.