What can happen if a secret is kept too long?

I figure that for the majority of society, people have trouble keeping secrets. No man is an island nor is he meant to be. Secrets, for me, are like burdens that keep on piling up after time. I figure no one can keep a secret unless he or she forgets it which does not count at all! Everyone talks and everyone has friends if not good or best friends. The tendency for a secret to come out, then, is very high.

Two things that tend to happen when a secret is kept too long. Firstly, to the individual who has this secret, he or she may feel overburdened with keeping that secret to himself or herself. So that individual will then confide in someone else. Sometimes talking to someone may alleviate the pain or joy of that secret. If the secret is not meant to be kept secret then that will be fine but there are two other outcomes if the secret cannot be let out into the open and if the person with the secret makes the other individual swear not to tell anyone.

If you tell someone and then bind him or her to secrecy, and that secret is kept too long, the first thing that could occur is that he or she forgets that secret. Then, the secret may be taken to the grave. However, flashbacks of what has happened in the past caused by a trigger of maybe the friend who told them the secret, may cause the individual to remember that secret.

Provided that the secret is remembered, if the secret is kept too long, it may be hard for the individual to constantly keep the secret. We are human after all and when a certain topic is brought up individuals like to bring up new matter to the table to show either their popularity with others or that they can fit in with the group well or even to make them look or sound good or be viewed that way by other members of the group. Then, it is very hard to keep a straight face and zip mouths as the compulsion to blurt out the secret may be strong.

Then, people may just blurt it out. Since it has been kept secret for a while, if the individual wants to tell his friend's secret, it will be easy to rational the reason for blurting the secret out. 'It's been such a long time I'm sure he won't mind,' or 'It's not relevant now,' are common examples of how people can rationale that action. You will though, feel your conscience telling you not to and guilt-tripping you over that secret.