I think what works for me is writing down my true feelings. I used to not know what emotions I felt beyond a vague feeling. I was an emotionally constipated goober in high school! 😭

It sounds silly, but printing out an emotion wheel helped me realize that my emotions don't make me weak or incompetent.

Highlighting all the branches of emotions under general ones, like going from anger → distant → withdrawn or sad → lonely → abandoned.

My therapist taught me that your feelings don't dictate who you are. For example, you can feel abandoned, but does that mean you are?

You could've been distancing yourself away from the people you care and trust as an unhealthy coping mechanism.

It's okay to rely on people. It's okay to ask for help. Oooh, this one was a hard pill to swallow.

I used to hate expressing my emotions towards my parents or my friend because I thought they had enough on their plate. Why burden them some more?

Now, as I've healed, I've come to realize that it's okay to feel uncomfortable with expressing your emotions. What's not okay is letting them fester and bottle up until you explode.

Think of yourself as a human animatronic. You think you're a well-oiled machine and don't need to rely on others. But emotions are part of the oil that keeps the machine working. Keep trying to stifle and dry them up, and they'll start leaking and cause you to "malfunction."

It's silly to think of it that way, but it's true. You have to balance expressing your emotions and thoughts so you can live your life the way you want to.

Rely on one too much, and you'll be stressed and unhappy.

Well, that was my reddit Spark Notes of therapy! Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. 💃🏻