The Confessions

"I wrote here about a teacher I never thanked. I found the school and wrote her a letter by hand. Three weeks later I received one back. She remembered me. She said my letter had made her year. It made mine too."

"I have been paying for a streaming service on a family account for two years without telling the account holder. They have no idea. I know they would not mind. The not telling them is the thing I cannot justify."

"I sold something online describing it as being in excellent condition. It was not in excellent condition. I packaged it carefully to obscure the damage. The buyer left no review. I have sold nothing online since and I do not intend to."

"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 broke up with someone who was genuinely good to me because my friends did not like them. I let other peoples opinions override my own heart. They married someone else last year. They look happy. I still wonder."

"I ghosted someone who was kind, funny and clearly into me because they were not conventionally attractive and I was worried what my friends would think. I am ashamed of that version of myself."

"I spent most of my children early years focused on my career. I told myself I was doing it for them. I was doing it for me. They are teenagers now and we are close but I am aware of a distance I created in those years that I am still trying to close."

"I voted against a friend in a group decision knowing my vote would be the deciding one against them. I did not tell them it was me. The decision affected them significantly. They still do not know."

"I read my teenage daughters diary. I found nothing alarming but I violated her trust completely. She is twenty six now and we are close. I have never told her. I think about it whenever she tells me something in confidence."

"I found a wallet in a supermarket car park with three hundred and forty pounds in it. I kept the money and handed in the empty wallet. I told myself the person was probably insured. I have thought about that justification almost every day since and I know it was nonsense."