When you have information that you do not intend to be seen or known by others it is a secret.  When you share this with someone, most likely a limited audience, it becomes no longer secret.

”Psst, hey you wanna hear a secret? “. This is really just a way of spicing up what you have to share.  The response is often an excited and urgent “Tell me!”.

Real Secrets

When information information has a limited audience it is not really secret but rather restricted.  Other terms for this are confidential, private, internal use and so on.

Real secrets must be internalized and belong just to us.  Having the need to keep secrets can become a soul crushing exercise.  Secrets are usually of an emotional nature and the reason for keeping them is often to protect ourselves or others.

There can be a real emotional cost to this practice.  Instinctively we want to share and choosing not to do so is most likely motivated by fear.

Lack of Resolution

Unfortunately keeping secrets, real secrets you do not and cannot share, often limits you from resolving the root causes of the secret in the first place.

You may initially experience some relief and hold your fears at bay but over time the hidden knowledge will continue to gnaw at you until it either bursts out and causes damage or you keep it to yourself and the damage is internal.

Consider carefully the ramifications of keeping secrets.  The option to find a way to share your secret without incurring the risks you fear is almost always worth exploring as the wisest path.