UNITED STATES—Why, oh why do some people just love to keep secrets? I used to be a firm believer that keeping a secret is a bad thing, but as life continues to punch me in the gut, I have come to discover that in very rare situations it is okay to keep a secret temporary. However, I am NOT a fan of people who keep secrets that can be the difference between life or death! If your health is in a crisis, that is not something that you can keep from those who care about you, specifically family.

I hate when people keep serious diagnosis from me, or ask me to swear on my life not to tell anyone? Why tell me something if you don’t want the rest of the family or the world to learn about? This happened to me in the past week, some serious stuff transpired with the family and NO ONE knew what the hell was going on because everyone wanted to be tight-lipped and to keep secrets, it just left me flabbergasted. Why? You’re dealing with something serious, but instead of opening up, you think it’s wise to put a lid on it and to not alert anyone of the situation. That is NOT too bright in my opinion.

What happens if this situation that you want to prevent from being exposed actually blow up and something is needed, but because you failed to disclose what is going on, no one understands WHAT IS GOING ON? I’ve also come to the realization that if you tell a secret, you better be willing to keep that secret with an iron fist. Why? It will eat away at you, it will haunt you and in some instances it can dictate and control your life.

When we keep a secret, we like to think we are protecting people, but I have come to the realization that LIFE IS TO SHORT for BS. Rip the freaking band aid off and tell people how you really feel. Why keep the secret? Why continue living life to allow them to think all is perfect and golden because you don’t want to hurt their feelings.

You might think a secret is similar to a lie, and to be honest you would indeed be right. Lies and secrets go hand and hand, but a lie is intentional where secret might be something that falls in your lap that you never expected. You can’t control fate, but you can predict the outcome of a situation based on how you handle it. Do you expose the secret or do you let it fester until it explodes in gargantuan fashion? That is up to you to choose, but choose wisely.

Written By Zoe Mitchell