When did women start becoming so obsessed with hiding their feelings?

Think back to the last time you responded, “It’s fine,” to a situation when it really wasn’t. I have to admit -- I am the queen of the land of “it’s fine.” I’m also willing to bet that many of you frequently spend time there.

More often than not, we don’t care how our significant others want to spend their Friday nights, or that our friends bailed out on dinner plans at the last moment and everything really is “fine.” But,  there comes a time when someone else's decisions affect us, and as a result, our moods. So why are we so quick to bypass the incident and move on?       

We all know that women are emotional creatures. We laugh. We cry. Sometimes we can be a little over-dramatic when we flip out over a harmless comment or broken nail. That is just how we are wired. So, when did we start associating emotions with negativity and things that need to be suppressed?     

In the age of social media, we are constantly putting our thoughts and opinions out in the open for people to comment on and interpret. We have no problem telling Facebook what’s on our minds or giving the world a play-by-play of our daily actions via Twitter, so why have we become consumed with the idea of it’s fine? Are we afraid of being labeled crazy, psycho, over reactive, or one of the countless other terms ascribed to women, nowadays? Or, are we trying just a bit too hard to be the fun, easy-going girl? Whatever the source of the problem, we need to stop labeling our emotional sides as a taboo topic.      

There is a time and a place to be attuned to your feelings. When your boyfriend takes a little longer than usual to respond to your text messages is not one of those times. At a bar, circa 1 a,m., with your dear friend Mr. Cuervo is also not one of those times. However, if you keep suppressing your emotions and feelings for too long, it becomes unhealthy. We are humans, not robots.      

Sooner or later, that stoic persona and, as my British grandmother would say, stiff upper-lip, will begin to falter under the rising pressure created by refusing to acknowledge the way you feel. When that pressure becomes too much to handle, the tears and the hysterics will come in full force.      

In today’s fast paced society, there are already so many daily pressures that influence our personalities and general attitudes about the world. In order to make us all a bit happier on the inside, and to make our lives less stressful, we should work to be more in tune with our emotions.

Hear me out, people. I think it’s about time we stop inappropriately using the phrase, “It’s fine.” For as the wise Dr. Seuss once said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”