I'm kind of in an internal debate here, and I have no one else to go to and ask. There are two separate things that I'm struggling with, so I'll explain each separately.

First, I have trust issues. I haven't been able to trust anyone other than my family for almost three years now. For almost nine years now, I haven't been able to trust anyone other than the friends I already have and my family. Don't get me wrong, I've tried, but I've been unsuccessful and each attempt ended in me closing off again. Each time, I would trust people less. I have been doing a good job at pretending to be open up until now, but I find that it's just an act because I can't tell anyone anything personal without fear of being betrayed or stabbed in the back.

There's something in my past that's caused this, and I've managed to completely ignore it until almost a year ago. There are a few people who know, because they were there when it happened or they were told about it to someone who was, but I wouldn't have told them had they not known. It was brought up by one of those people a year ago, something reminded them of it, and it hasn't left my mind since. There's hardly a day where I can go without thinking about it.

I feel that if I were to trust someone fully, I'd tell them of this event. I feel that this event is what started my trust issues. I want to tell someone, but, at the same time, I want to just leave it in the past and forget about it. The problem is, how can you leave something in the past that effects me so much today, and how can I learn to open up to people if I won't even tell them a major part of my past that makes me who I am today?

I have someone that I want to trust, but I want your opinion before I decided to put it all out in the open. Should I trust this person, or should I just leave that event in the past or try to move on the best I can? Do you have any other ideas of how I can handle the situation?

The past can't be forgotten, it can only be dealt with. In other words, try to coexist with your past instead of forgetting about it.

It's your choice on what you want to do. I'm just trying to send you in the right direction.

Ever tried writing in a diary? It would probably help so long as you do something like burning it afterwards so nobody sees what you wrote but it still might help. If you feel that bad about what happened in your past then it probably is a good idea to let go but like 2 said, its your choice.

From personal experience try to deal with whatever is bothering you. It sounds like it will be difficult though. One of the best things for me that worked was writing down all my thoughts to figure all the stuff that was bothering me from my past. All together I probably wrote around 300-500 pages over the course of 3 years just to figure out all the stuff in my past that was still bothering me. Other than that hanging out with freinds kept my mood up as well.

I have to agree with >>3 & >>4 about the journal. I have one and it helps to write all your troubles down or past events.

To be honest, I don't trust anyone except myself. I don't want you taking down the path of not trusting anyone. Maybe you should talk to that person so they'll know it's a sign that you trust them enough to tell them about your issues. But it IS your choice whether you want to talk to them or not.