My secret-keeping strategy

A few years ago, in an amazing case of all the planets aligning, we travelled to Europe at six weeks notice with four friends.

For one of those friends, B, the entire trip was a surprise.

This was a hard secret to keep. And so, I avoided B for those few weeks. Of course, this left her wondering if something was wrong and she made the effort to catch up with me, even offering to join me on a long drive (home from a girls' weekend with a group of friends).

Catching up with B is never a hard task, and normally we could chat all day. But during those weeks, it was hard work. I had to carefully think through every word exiting my mouth to make sure it wouldn't lead to me talking about the only thing on my mind: Europe. The fact that very soon, we would be sailing around Croatia and shopping in London.

When I have to keep a secret, I have one strategy: avoidance.

Now that you know this about me, you may understand if I'm a little quiet online at the moment.

I'm working on something big - huge, bigger than huge - that I can't share. All I can tell you is that I'm starting up a new business (yay!), and because I don't have much else on my mind, because I'm nearly drowning in business plans and bank meetings and to-do lists, and because I'm worried about blurting it all out - I may retreat to my safe place.

Hiding under my shell.