To express our feelings and emotions is such a frightening and vulnerable thing to do. If we say how we feel, we allow others to see us in a way they haven't seen us before; as if we are baring our naked souls. We're allowing others to get a glimpse of how our brain works and what kind of emotions we choose to express.

When you guard your feelings, you're not allowing anyone to know the real you. Yes, it's scary because what if people don't like the real you? What if they walk away? What if they judge you? Those are possibilities, but the right people will stay. Remaining guarded isn't always a good idea, depending on the situation. To suppress your feelings and emotions is not healthy. You're physically bottling up everything in your mind and body. Imagine your body being a bottle of soda. The more suppressed feelings, the more room it takes up in the bottle, building up until it explodes. So, let some air out of the bottle sometimes. Allow yourself to feel.

When we deal with feelings and emotions when it comes to friendships and relationships, that tends to be the biggest hurdle. If a friend hurts your feelings and you don't like confrontation, you just hold it in hoping the subject won't be brought up. If you're going through something and a friend is trying to help but you're not letting them in, emotionally, you're just hurting yourself more. If you're not being honest about your feelings (good or bad) with someone that you like, that's not fair to either person. You're trying to save face for the sake of confronting your own feelings all while making them guess your actions and thoughts on top of their own.

What it boils down to is communication. Interpersonal communication is a big part of being human. We make friends, start relationships, and talk to our families. We hug, we laugh, we cry, we get angry. That's all in our DNA of being a human being on this Earth. If we didn't feel and show our emotions, how would we be able to be with others? How would we be able to show who we truly are and make connections? Without human connection, we probably wouldn't be anything but a vessel, an empty bottle. And an empty bottle might be worse than one that's about to explode.

So let some air in.

Take a deep breath and just feel.