Tell me, have you ever had a situation where you wanted to vent to just a random person? Specifically, to a complete stranger – simply because your story would be either too sensitive or offensive to your relatives or friends? Well, if so, then you will definitely get these stories.
Today’s selection from We is dedicated to completely random stories from a variety of people who decided one fine day to unburden their souls by telling netizens about what weighs on them, what they really want – but it’s better for no one who really knows them in reality to know about it.
More info: Reddit
#1
I once had a house mates cat put to sleep.
He was in pain all the time, ancient, blind, deaf, walking hurt, he’d bump in to walls and he’d fall over. He’d potty every where because he couldn’t remember where his boxes were. He cried almost all the time and I got to the point I was crying for him. Almost as much as he was. The wouldn’t let him go, they said he was fine, and he wasn’t. I said I’d pay for the vet, they said he’d die when his time came.
His time came when I took him to the vet, had him go to sleep, took him back home, and gently placed him in his bed.
They thought he died in his sleep.
I’ve felt guilty for years, but I’d still do it again.
#2
One morning on my way out to work, I rescued a Mourning Dove whose feet were frozen to a branch of a bush by my kitchen door. I slowly peeled its feet off the branch, and it burst away in flight.
The next morning as I left for work, there was a flock of Mourning Doves in the tree in my yard. There had to be forty birds, and then they all flew away at once.
Who would believe it?
#3
I feel guilty for having children because the world seems to be going to c**p. I love them and don’t want them to suffer.
A few weeks ago, in the AskReddit community, the user u/nurse_raexo asked netizens: “What’s something you never told anyone because you’re not sure they’d understand?” which resulted in a, although not so viral, still completely touching and sincere thread.
While putting together this collection, I had a hard time holding back tears several times – just imagining the feelings of people sharing their most intimate thoughts. So I do hope you will also find this list of stories and revelations selected for you by We interesting, and sometimes even eye-opening.
#4
I just want to disappear. Not die, but go somewhere where I won’t be recognized or found. I don’t even have anything to run from so folks won’t understand, I’m just tired of all this
Edit: just listen to Saddle Tramp by Marty Robbins and you’ll know how I feel.
#5
I want to live far far away from people. I don’t enjoy the presence of other people.. I want it to just be me, my thoughts and no one else for 10s of miles.. I’d like to just have a cabin in the woods where I don’t have to do anything for anyone.
#6
Sometimes I miss doing absolutely nothing. Like, full-on, guilt-free nothing. Not a lazy Sunday or a break, but that kind of aimless, slow moment where you just lie on the floor staring at the ceiling and your brain’s not buzzing with 50 tabs open. I used to do that as a kid. Just vibe, no goals, no schedule but just existing. But if I tell people that now,people would think I am wasting time.
Why do people try to speak out in an online thread, and not to friends, relatives or a psychoanalyst? It’s very simple – any person who knows you will, one way or another, perceive the story you tell under the angle of their own knowledge, and not just the way you told it. A psychoanalyst will most likely offer an attempt to solve the problem – and we often just need to be listened to.
Well, not just listened to, but from the point of view that we want to convey – even if this point is actually irrational and illogical, strange and stupid. But these are our feelings, what we feel, and what hurts us. That’s why netizens, hidden behind faceless userpics, can be great listeners.
#7
That behind the face of me being a VERY successful businesswoman, beneath the mask , Im still like a little girl that’s lost and very scared of life in general.
#8
I rehearse entire conversations in my head like they’re real events including the arguments, plot twists, and imaginary comebacks. But then I act surprised when I’m mentally exhausted by noon.
#9
That I love my cat (1 of the 4 we have), more than any human. Inc wife & kid.
Of course, netizens can start labeling you without any reason, but if you give a general enough description of your pain, your problem, then most likely you will get some sympathy. Just sympathy, not solutions – and you probably don’t need them in this situation.
“If you’re the one listening, you’re not expected to have a solution ready,” Professor Ewan Gillon, the Clinical Director of First Psychology Scotland at First Psychology Centre, Edinburgh, writes in his article on Press and Journal. “You may have ideas, but first and foremost, it’s about being there to listen. <…> In any case, it is about understanding what is happening to our minds and learning to deal with that.”
#10
I wish I didn’t have family, pets or a boyfriend so I could live my life doing what I want without guilt. I want to travel the world completely alone in an RV and just live a very reckless life.
#11
I’m too tired to exist.
And it’s too much effort to explain only to be met with empty platitudes.
#12
Something I occasionally tell people but typically don’t bother: Anything about binge eating.
It’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t have it because for nearly everyone, eating is a basic thing you barely think about, like breathing.
With binge eating disorder, I’ll get hit with a trigger – like a craving for a specific food, but times a billion. I can ignore it, but it doesn’t go away. It stays in my brain and gets louder and louder over hours or days, until it’s the only thing I can think about. Until it’s so distracting it’s hard to even have a conversation. Until it’s to the point of “well, I better order that whatever it is, or I literally won’t be able to function at work today.”
And it’s hell, because we are bombarded with food ads constantly, it’s everywhere when you go out, it’s part of nearly every social gathering, and oh yeah, you also have to eat multiple times a day to stay alive. Imagine being an alcoholic and knowing you need to quit, but you also need to do a shot three times a day or die.
And no matter how carefully you explain it, or when I explain that I’ve had times in my life where I lost 100+ pounds and gained it back because of the binge eating disorder, or explain that I’m finally able to manage it because a doctor finally listened to me and got me on the correct prescription medication and therapy (and now that I’m properly medicated I still get cravings, but they’re so much milder it’s comical, it’s like the difference between “I’m literally on fire” and “I smell smoke in the far distance”), there will still be some d*****s in the comments every time that says “That’s not real, just eat less you fat monster.”
Eventually you just accept that some people are incapable of empathy and understanding and try to ignore it.
“There are moments in our lives when a person just needs to talk it out, to tell about something that’s been bothering them, sometimes just to some random stranger,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom We asked for a comment here. “To ease the burden that may lie on our souls.”
“For many centuries, confession played this role in Christian society – after all, there a person, also on the condition of anonymity, tried to lift a, sometimes quite heavy, stone from their soul. In modern society, the church no longer plays the same role as before – but the demand for this remains.”
“So many people try to satisfy this need, either by talking to strangers in a bar, or by sharing their problems on various online resources. By the way, now, with the advent of AI, many people try to pour out their souls to chatbots too. Just to be listened to. And you know what – sometimes it really helps.”
#13
Just how badly a few comments when I was 12-13 from family about my weight and to suck in my tummy have wrecked my self esteem for life. I hate my body and it’s a constant stream of thoughts in my head.
Don’t eat that. Don’t order that people will see and judge. Try to be a small as possible. Don’t take up too much room. Angle yourself better. Can you feel your ribs today. Is your collarbone showing more today. It goes on and on.
The s**t thing is I am fat. My whole family is big. I’m tall and big and feel like a hulk.
Edit- I’m doing all I can to lose weight. 10kgs down in 3 months so please don’t give me unsolicited weight loss advice. I’ve heard it all.
#14
I’m asexual and aromantic. Telling people causes more problems at times than not telling them. But honestly, not telling people creates its own set of problems as well. Can’t win.
#15
I wish I could just exist and not be hassled for it by a certain administration. My family while being supportive are largely ignorant and even say just to get over it.
In any case, we suggest that you read all the stories provided here to the very end – because they are really worth reading. And if you also have something to share with other people, then feel free to join the comments under this post. If it makes you feel better – well, it means that everything here was not in vain.
#16
Sometimes i wonder if what i endured as a child is considered a*****e or traumatic. i dont want to tell a psychiatrist/counselor cause they might be obligated to send me to an inpatient mental health facility.
#17
My grandson is an absentee father 😭
It breaks my heart I will never meet my great granddaughter.
#18
That i’m most definitely mentally disabled to the point i can’t work. but nobody would understand because i’ve had a job before. no way to afford a diagnosis and no doctor + s****y diagnostic process for women = no way of proving it because nobody believes anything you say unless you get an official diagnosis. an endless cycle of misery.
#19
Ive had lifelong anxiety and depression because of extensive and painful cosmetic medical treatments I had from infancy til I was 4 years old.
#20
I love my kids but I don’t like having kids. I’m overstimulated and overwhelmed constantly. I’m perfectly capable of handling them but I hate it. I want adult versions of my children. They’re 6 and 2. They’re clever and funny and I can’t wait to see what kind of adults they will turn into.
#21
I think that I dont feel emotions properly. Like I enjoy being around my kids and husband, but I don’t think that I feel as attentive, loving, or caring as they deserve. I also wonder if this is connected to being epileptic, like it’s something that’s never worked properly in my brain.
#22
I never tell anyone if I have a health concern.
I can’t stand other people being worried about me when I don’t have any of the answers myself.
#23
I constantly think about true freedom, just a simple thought of picking up my belongings and leaving, taking a bus to a train to a plane to Africa or some other country, and becoming a missing person in North America, just disappearing as I learn to live freely out in a continent without nearly as much technology or government watch. Just free.
#24
I’m going blind in one eye.
#25
How much money my family actually has… even anonymous strangers have trouble understanding tbh
1) it’s rude to talk about 2) people can act weird about it 3)I would never bring it up and no one has asked me “so how rich are you?” thank god. I chill with very normal people who don’t really figure out I have money until I start taking them out to dinner and concerts and stuff. I love them and want their company and don’t want them to stress about paying for expensive things I want to do. they don’t mind lol.
#26
Wish I could just stop talking to my whole family with no repercussions. They aren’t terrible or anything, but we’re not close. They barely know who I am and although the relationship is minimal already, the little bits we do talk are mentally exhausting. A bunch of s****y small talk mixed in with probing questions meant to “keep me in line”.
#27
My dog once barked at an ant trail for 2 hours. I think he saw something I didn’t.
#28
I do not love or care for my mother’s other son. He is not my brother, just some guy I happen to live with. Brotherhood means more to me than what he makes it.
#29
Late at night, while I’m in bed, around 3-4am i can hear the core of the earth vibrating, usually happens every few months, maybe 2-3 times for that certain week, whenever that is.
#30
You will never understand how soul crushing it is to have a small [male genital], and how lonely it feels, unless you have one. The relentlessly cruelty of others really broke my spirit for a long time.
#31
Being a piece of s**t on the internet and in real life is not cool. It just makes me wish you the worst fates imaginable. No opinion is wrong. If you disagree with one, do it respectfully. Otherwise, you have been a great waste of space, as well as a waste of the effort your parents went through to bring you into this world.
#32
There have been times that I’m convinced that I can read people’s minds. It’s not like in movies where I hear their thoughts, but it’s more like I feel what they’re thinking as if it’s my thought, but I can’t control it, because it’s theirs. Before you roll your eyes, I’ve felt what people were thinking and was correct (verified with them), I’ve had people pick a number between 1 – 100, got it correct more than once. Here’s the thing, it comes and goes. Most frustrating part: when I really need it, that’s when it usually goes away. It’s pretty much a useless power that I have.
#33
I’m not convinced I’m a human person.