Holding Back

A lot of times I look at myself and question why I express my emotions in a certain way, or why I express them at all. I mean, I think emotions are good things to have, but does that mean you should always convey them?

As a person who shows emotion almost always, I can say it's exhausting, but sometimes feels like a release. I've never kept feelings suppressed, because I've always seen doing so as being a negative thing. But is it really?

I'm apprehensive to discuss this because I've only ever really been on one side of the argument. I mean, of course there are some things that you keep to yourself, but that happens to everyone. So let's begin with the pros of communicating emotion and cons of keeping it held inside. Expressing emotion is one of the only ways to let people know how to act around us. For example, people know what pisses me off and what makes me smile because I've shown reactions to things in the past. Thus, they are able to be sensitive and make the communicate between us better and more comfortable. Another good thing about opening up is the release of energy. Cooping all of that emotion can be exhausting and by being expressive, you may not get rid of the emotion, but you'll probably drain a lot of the build-up behind it. It's emotionally healthy and can really be very theraputic. By not allowing yourself to insinuate how you're feeling, you can also put a barrier beween yourself and others much more easily. Generally we can tell when one of our friends is feeling some kind of way about something, but if they refuse to talk about it, you may wonder what else they don't talk to you about. And that's what friends are there for, to help you through things, to celebrate with you, and to just be there if you need them.

So what about the cons of opening up? Like I said, I've rarely been on this side of the spectrum, but I'm trying to keep my mind open and examine all senarios. I guess one of the main things is that you become more vulnerable. Or at least feel like you do. Because by expressing emotion, you allow other people to see how you're feeling which could then allow them to take advantage of the situation. And if you're ashamed or embarrassed of your feelings, that's a given. I feel like that happens a lot with guys, because happy or light emotions can give the illusion of being carefree, and often guys feel the need to be stable and resiliant to any kind of "weak" feeling. I think the last main one here is the fact that emotions can be really personal...too personal to share. I know I've experience this one before. So I understand this one the most. There are some things that people just don't need to know. And if they find out then they have to know the entire story, otherwise some kind of judgment will be passed. Which will then require you to justify everything even if you aren't entirely sure why you did some specific action.

I guess I'll stay with expressing my emotions to people but, hey, the other side doesn't really look all that bad. Maybe it's something to take into consideration on some occasions...