A mistake stays the same size. A cover-up grows every day you feed it.

The original thing is fixed and finished the moment it happens. What grows is everything built on top: the explanation that needs maintaining, the people who must not compare notes, the worry running underneath your week. That part has an appetite, and you feed it with every small decision to keep it going. Six months later the hiding is bigger than whatever it was hiding.

If you are carrying something like this, look at what you are actually spending on it. Then pick the smallest true sentence you could say, and say it to one person. The relief usually arrives faster than the consequence.