And so, when the fact that I was upset was likely to make my friends sad, and for more than just a few minutes, I didn't want to reveal to them that I was upset because I didn't want them to be sad.

[blink] OK. Once the lid is off, though, shouldn't you give some sort of clue as to what's going on?

Anyway, there's plenty of stuff only perfect strangers know about me. I'd rather it weren't there to be known, so discussing it with total strangers is an attempt at exorcism, so I don't carry things back to the nest (as it were) that I'd rather weren't there.