It seems weird to think that simply opening up about your feelings can be so beneficial to you. I'm here to tell you that it can really change your life, the way it did mine.

When I was in my interpersonal communications class one of the first topics we learned was about opening up. I was so concerned that i had to open up to a whole bunch of strangers with them barely even knowing me. Yet, that was the point. In order to become more comfortable with who we are, we needed to tell people about us. We needed to organize our opinions about ourselves into words that we could share with someone else. So even though it wasn't normal at first to talk to strangers about how we felt about things that meant a lot to us, it was vital to becoming closer to who we are. Doing this actually helped me with my self-confidence because seeing how people reacted was way better than I thought they would. By verbally expressing your feelings to someone who doesn't know you, it almost became easier to talk about it. Since you don't know them on a personal level, their opinion may mean less to you than someone who you've known for a very long time. That's when it gets difficult.

I understand how hard it can be for people to want to open up to people in their life. One of my best friends hates talking about his feelings. He bottles things up and ends up taking it out on other things and other people when he doesn't mean to. Each person has different battles and it's about learning what makes you comfortable and what little accomplishments can help you the most. For him, he will very occasionally talk about how he feels and you can almost see the relief on his face when he gets what he was feeling off of his chest. Getting your feelings out just feels better! No matter the outcome, the right people in your life will respect your feelings and be able to help you if you need it.

The hardest part is the fear of embarrassment. In today's society, people are so worried about how people perceive each other. However, if everyone was open about how they felt and what has affected them, the world may be a little bit of a better place. Once you get over the embarrassment, and you're able to spill everything out, a relief washes over you. The outcome is always better than how it was before. When it comes to love, it can be so scary at first. I told someone I loved them, it was hard at first to have that bottled up for so long and not being able to express that in any way.

Once I had let that go it was so much easier and freeing to be able to see the look on their face. Honesty is always a better solution, even when dealing with issues not as "sweet" as love can be. Even conflict can always be better handled when the people involved are open with their feelings and explain what they want. It's so much easier to talk about a solution when it's clear on what you are trying to achieve.

I'm not telling you this is going to be easy. I'm telling you that when you get past this hurdle you're going to feel free. Being trapped behind a barrier to express yourself can be so painful without you even realizing it. You can be limiting yourself without even thinking about it! I hope this enlightens you to try to dig a little bit deeper and open up a little bit more. The right people are rooting for you.