Im concerned my past mistakes could be exposed

Hi i made a posts like a month ago on here but to sum it up at 14-16 and im 17 now i used to catfish a couple girls from my school and I deeply regret it now. Currently im feeling a little better but im really worried because not all the profiles i made on the internet are deleted most likely. I think I forgot to delete some of them and I already went through my apps so it wouldn’t be in their. But my problem is that i think that a sneaky pic i took like 3 years ago could be a profile pic of a couple of the accounts that could still be up. If she or someone else found it and told her about it my life would be screwed. Do any of you guys have any advice for me i know its a really bad situation.

1 Like

It depends how serious it is. Remember today everything is achieved and stored in a data base so please be careful what you post because it can be used as evidence against you. Harassment and Bullying laws are very strict these days and you can get into legal trouble. I hope you learned from your experiences and move on my friend.

As long as its not illegal you’re good. Just be careful what you post even if it was done out of anger people don’t forget and for any little thing they want to drag you into court and throw you in jail.

1 Like

I also feel like i ruined my life before it even really started i mean am i ever not gonna have to worry about this i cant believe i got myself into this I really just want to live life but this is making it impossible

Im sorry for dramatatizing this im still worried but im already starting to feel better. The odds of it happening are not even really worth worrying. I look everyday for profiles still up and i never really find anything anymore. Alot of websites stop overtime too or they auto delete old accounts

1 Like

Im better about everything except the part where I pretended to be my aunt. I told a freind about everything pretty much besides that part and he didn’t really think i was terrible for it or whatever and it felt good to tell someone. I just feel bad cause im pretty close to my aunt and I pretended to be her a couple times online and that makes me feel awful when im around her sometimes. I did pretend to be one of my other aunts too in one random chat room but that was the only time I pretended to be one of my other aunts. I also asked random people if they wanted to see pics of my aunts and i think i may have have said hot aunt while talking which makes it even more wierd in chats a few times and posted a few pics of my two aunts in reddit like 2 times. Do you think I should really feel that terrible about this i only really did this stuff a few times but obviously its pretty wierd. I just dont know if I should really feel awful or I should just try to move on and forget

I guess my concern is that i wont be able to move on with life because of this akward situation i got myself into. Is this really something that is worth ruining my life over idk

I just dont know if I should really feel awful or I should just try to move on and forget

No one could tell you that you should feel something or not. When it’s a matter of feelings, there’s no right or wrong.

I think there is a possibility of healing, and it really goes along with learning how to forgive yourself. Unortunately, how to do it is a very personal thing. It’s about you and the relation you have with yourself. How you see yourself as a human being, with strengths and flaws - like everyone. There’s no magic recipe when it’s about forgiveness. Only you being in tune with how you feel and processing what you did in a way that would be healthy to you. Sometimes, when we feel bad about what we did, it helps to try to give back to others something positive. For example, through volunteering. Maybe this could be something interesting for you to consider, so you could work on yourself and how you perceive yourself. Just a suggestion though. :wink:

1 Like

Thank you I really appreciate the advice but maybe I guess my real question is is this Guilt of catfishing my aunt and doing some other stupid stuff with her and one of my other aunts gonna just torture me my whole life or do you think that that really shouldn’t be enough to do that

1 Like

You probably won’t struggle with those thoughts about what you did for your entire life. You don’t control how you feel about it - for the moment. But time is a great ally. You’ll probably need to be patient with yourself. A lot. It will get better. The very fact that you’ve been honest about all of this here IS a huge step towards healing.

It’s totally understandable if you feel some guilt that keeps going back and forth. It will keep coming in waves, but it will get better with time. You won’t think about it all the time. Though, if at some point you really feel like it’s becoming crippling to you, like it’s preventing you to live to some extent, then it could be worth to try to talk about it with a counselor for example. They can help you to work on automatic thoughts and feelings you can’t control, to actually regain some control - and again, to learn to forgive yourself.

Have you considered, maybe, to try to write a letter to yourself, as a way to forgive yourself at least symbolically? Sometimes writing down messages to ourselves can be very liberating. It’s a way to learn to be honest with ourselves, but also to be compassionate, even when we made mistakes. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes, we all have regrets. And when we learn to accept that, we allow ourselves to learn from our mistakes so we don’t repeat the same in the future. :heart:

1 Like

I haven’t really considered the letter thing but if things go more south I’ll definitely think about it. I’ve been doing better lately but its still in the back of my head. My thinking is that they would prob be really pissed but they probably wouldn’t hate me forever and i think alot of Other people keep secrets from people they may love too

1 Like

@Hockter24

To give you alittle encouragement many sites after awhile clean up some of the profiles that are on them to free up some extra space and delete anything old if it has not been used for 3 years there is a greater chance that things were wiped profile wise.

3 Likes

I honestly get this. Im nearing…old and I tbh, I cant go into my field of choice due to my past . But, the one thing I can say from all of it is that it dosnt follow you. I had a neopets account… (that old) where I used to do essentially the same thing because I was an awkward person and, I can safely say now that when I try to find that profile, it dosnt exist. I think there was a tv show that summed it up well. Nothing is forever.

1 Like

Cause im just wondering how they would find it if you couldn’t

Exactly. It’s not as bad as you make it out to seem. The only way your past will ever get completely directed is if you run for office or become famous. Those people have it rough because its hard to show the world you have changed.

1 Like

Yeah i don’t really know how anyone would find the accounts and if they did it wouldn’t even be the end of the world cause it’s already been a year ago and it will only get longer and longer

1 Like

If you really feel like you have changed and are apologetic about your past behaviors, I would suggest reaching out to those you may have hurt. It will bring closure to you and maybe even to them. You might actually reconnect with some of them. Life is weird like that.