The expectation that parents can neatly compartmentalise their professional and domestic lives is an unfair one, says freelance writer Emma Armstrong

My childhood bullies instilled in me a hatred of my body. Now I hear the word ‘fat’ as a neutral term rather than a label of shame, says author Jason Prokowiew

Last year, I finally realised that my habit of seeing everything through to the end was just a colossal waste of time, says Callum Bains

Interning for an A-lister’s production company, I thought I had made it – but three years later I was back in cold, wet London, says app creator Kate Wilson

After retiring, I finally had time to practise. But I soon realised that playing and making music are two different things, says Brian Hanson-Harding

I used to remove myself from experiences in favour of chasing matches. Now I’m fulfilled by the company of real people, says freelance writer Anya Ryan

I had always called myself ‘a collector’. Then I saw that holding on to things had become my way of coping with hard times, says journalist Claire Jackson

It wasn’t even my decision. But being forced to ditch them after surgery was a revelation. Who cares what people think? says writer and entrepreneur Becki Jacobson

Being left out of family events, sending gifts that went unacknowledged – I took it all so personally, until I realised it wasn’t my problem, says writer Lucretia Grindle Lutyens

For years I tried so hard to find that elusive band of forever friends. But maybe this isn’t a mould I was made to fit into, says film critic Tara Judah

Radical honesty isn’t for the faint-hearted, but it’s one of the greatest joys I’ve ever discovered, says author Radhika Sanghani

Yes, I revelled in the thrill of film-making, but a fear of failure nagged at me. Behind it lay a truth I’d been ignoring, says writer Janine Parkinson

The never-ending commitment took its toll on my creativity and my mental health. Having a baby was the last straw, says author and podcaster Hannah Witton

I quit when it sank in that pushing back at my routine embassy job felt less like resistance than complicity, says former US diplomat Josef Burton

My year there was marked by crumbling depots, staff constantly leaving and impossible targets. This once-great institution is on its knees, says former postie Gareth Roberts

After a decade in Germany, I was still anxious talking to native speakers – then I realised my language skills weren’t the problem, says Ying Reinhardt

‘Wait,’ people would say. ‘You get paid to eat?’ Yes, and eating out five times a day was joyful – for a while, at least, says journalist Corin Hirsch

An outdated approach to women and children keeps me from my place of worship. Without more openness, it has no future, says Nomi Kaltmann