Many songs, movies and other forms of popular media, seem to echo the same sentiment- “don’t catch feelings”. In a world where our society teaches us to be emotionally distant and avoid attachment at all costs, it can be difficult to find the courage to be vulnerable and honest. Even so, I want to encourage you to do just that. Love wholeheartedly and openly, and see how your life changes.

After all, what’s the worst that can happen? You might get hurt, yes, but is that really the end of the world? The thing about pain is that it heals, and there is nothing in life that you can’t get over. Life continues on regardless of how much pain you experience, and time can heal the nastiest of wounds. Therefore, what do we have to lose from taking chances? People can always surprise you, and you could be missing out on meeting someone truly amazing because you were too scared to trust and give them their best chance to change your life.

Moreover, think of how bland life would be without emotion. Protecting yourself from “catching feelings”, not only means missing out on the bad times, but also a lot of joy. If you think back in your life, you can probably identify some good emotions associated with a negative memory as well as the obviously sad parts. For example, even after a breakup, there are still many happy memories of the relationship that will stay with you long after the sadness fades away. In fact, it has been proven that the human mind retains happy memories more efficiently than sad ones. In other words, the happiness will remain long after you forget the sadness, and it’s almost guaranteed that there is more to gain from exposing yourself to emotions, rather than not doing so.

Feelings also have a purpose in our lives, even if we don’t always realize it. Even negative emotions can be a powerful driving force to push us in the right direction in life. For example, anger and frustration can often push us harder to reach our goals, and sadness can teach us things about ourselves that we never knew before. The truth is, everything that we go through makes us stronger, and you never run out of opportunities to grow and change as a person. By cutting ourselves off emotionally, we are denying ourselves the opportunity to grow.

In conclusion, despite the stigma surrounding “catching feelings”, our feelings are an important part of our life. They cause us to learn, grow, and experience new things. Without them, we would stay the same way our entire lives, and fail to experience any kind of happiness. Instead of shutting ourselves off from letting other people influence us, we should embrace new relationships wholeheartedly and remain open minded to any lessons we could learn from the people that enter our lives. A world without emotion is also a world in which we stop growing, learning, and experiencing joy. Instead of shutting ourselves off, we should be letting people in, and embracing our lives to the fullest of their potential.