It is okay to feel.
I can't tell you the number of times I have seen people stifle tears or hide their excitement in front of other people. I see so many people trying to deny their feelings at times where everyone would be better off if they said what they meant and weren't afraid to show people how they felt.
Think of all the times you had a crush on someone. Grade school, high school, college, or every day life. You would see that person and be so amazed by their existence that you'd want to ask them out; and for some reason, you didn't. Do you remember how it felt to be so in awe of someone? Wasn't it an amazing, scary feeling where you were aware of yourself and you were aware of another person?
Think about the times you decided to take a risk of any kind - try out for a sports team, apply for a job, apply to a school, submit an application - and the risk paid off. Think about the elation, relief, joy, or excitement you felt when you found out you got the job, got to be part of the team, got accepted to a school, or had your application accepted. Didn't it feel wonderful to get something as a reward for putting yourself out there and taking a risk?
Think about the times you've been around friends or family, and felt so wonderful and full of love and happiness, so fulfilled and worth something to the people around you. It's feelings like that are wonderful and amazing and can give so much meaning to your life, It's instances like that in which we find meaning for our lives, feelings that encompass us that we can remember days, months, and years later.
Think of the times you've cried, for any reason. Whether you cried from physical or emotional pain, it felt some kind of way to feel those things. Feelings were present and usually impossible to ignore, no matter how much you tried. The Fault in Our Stars had one of the best quotes about it:
"That's the thing about pain. It demands to be felt."
- John Green
It's one of the parts of life you can't avoid no matter how much effort you put into trying to avoid feelings, it's an inevitable aspect of life - it's one of the few things that makes our human lives so significantly meaningful.
Feelings are wonderful things with a variety of ways to represent themselves in your everyday life. Once you grow to accept them and realize that they are a natural, normal part of the process of your life that are here to enhance your experience. Even the negative feelings are worth something - if nothing else, to be a point of comparison for all the positive feelings that you experience and savor as you progress and grow in the course of your life.
Appreciate all of your feelings and recognize that they all have value, even if it's just in relation to the other emotions you have. Make life worth something by accepting your feelings.
