WHEN SECRETS SPEAK
That lyric from The Romantics—“I hear the secrets that you keep / When you’re talking in your sleep”—captures a deeply human paradox: that no matter how hard we try to lock parts of ourselves away, some truths find a way to escape. Most of us carry secrets. Some are small, like unspoken crushes or childhood embarrassments; others are heavier—past mistakes, regrets, hidden fears, or wounds we can’t quite name. We learn to tuck them away during the day, behind carefully chosen words and polite smiles. But when we sleep, our defenses drop. The mind drifts, and what we thought we had buried might rise to the surface, whispered into the darkness. But why do we keep secrets at all? And what do they really do to us? 🧠Why We Bury the Truth We keep secrets to protect ourselves: from shame, judgment, rejection, or pain. Sometimes we hide them to protect others. Sometimes because speaking them aloud would force us to face something we’re not ready to confront. Yet while secrets feel safe ...