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The original was posted on /r/tifu by /u/ThrowAway44228800 on 2026-03-19 00:39:30+00:00.
In high school I had gotten really close with a teacher in a mentor-type way. We kept in contact after high school and she's more like a family member now than anything. Throughout high school, she said she was always available to talk if I needed, and I really appreciated it.
I was also having a rough time safety-wise in high school and ended up with PTSD from a whole lot of different things, but I didn't know that that was my issue and I didn't know what to do about it. I just knew I was super stressed and scared and had nightmares a lot.
Sometimes--not frequently, but a plural amount of times--I woke up from these nightmares and realized I had wet the bed. Which I cleaned up quickly and hid from my family because I knew they'd probably shame me for it and I didn't want that happening. I was already super embarrassed because this was my senior year, I was a legal adult! I could drive! I could vote! These were not issues I was 'supposed' to be having!
I felt I needed to ask somebody for help but again I was too ashamed of it to outright ask. I was, and continue to be, very socially awkward and unaware, so what I thought was subtle was not subtle whatsoever. Regardless, I did what I thought was the best course of action: I went to my teacher and asked if she had ever had a 'bodily reaction' to a nightmare.
She looked at me very curiously and said yes, sometimes that type of thing can happen, do you want to talk about it more? No, I said. You're going to think I'm a baby. You'll never take me seriously again. I'm embarrassed about it.
She asked what part of it I was finding so challenging and I said how waking up was uncomfortable, plus I had to hide it from my parents so I had taken to setting alarms throughout the night so that I could deal with it before they noticed.
I thought I was being super subtle about it. I remember she was very kind and said that all sorts of reactions are normal, bodies are weird, but if I was worried I should go to a doctor, and regardless she'd always think of me as an adult. I was happy about this. I also thought I did a great job keeping my secret a secret.
Then today my friend and I discussed how kids sometimes think they're doing a great job lying or hiding something but are actually being super obvious, and this entire memory came back to me all at once. I told my friend and she fell over laughing because she said "It was so obvious what you were talking about, you should've just said it because she definitely knew."
On the one hand I am embarrassed that she knew because I was trying my best to be slick, but on the other hand I think that's what makes it funny. Although I do regret even having this conversation with my friend because otherwise I could keep living in blissful ignorance of my lack of subtlety.
TL;DR: I told my friend about a conversation where I thought I was being subtle but actually obviously admitted to my high school teacher that I wet the bed several times.