"Why can't you just be yourself? Why do you always want to hide?"

I couldn't answer the question. No one had asked me that before. But I was carrying the weight of a secret, and the idea of 'being myself' was laughable. Why would I do that? Why would I hurt other people with the way that I am? It seemed selfish and at the time, out of the question.

But the seed had been planted by my teacher, and bore fruit in time. 

I started by letting my gray grow in. Actually, I shaved my head to totally expose myself. There. Not hiding that anymore. And eventually, courage became stronger than fear. Even if it did take a number of years to get to the point where I knew I would never keep secrets again.

Secrets have an undeniable way of altering the fabric of our lives, often cloaked in fear or shame. Many individuals grapple with the weight of hidden truths—a weight that can manifest as stress, anxiety, or an overwhelming sense of isolation.

The act of keeping a secret tends to generate a dua...