Choosing Vulnerability Over Silence

Do you ever find yourself swallowing your words? You wanted to say something, to express how you felt, but instead, let the moment pass. Maybe you told yourself “It wasn’t the right time. I didn’t want to make things awkward. I didn’t want to seem too much”.

This gets me thinking. When did silence replace honesty? When did we start keeping our feelings tucked away, convincing ourselves that it’s fine when it isn’t?

As a psychologist, I know that emotions don’t just disappear when we ignore them. They settle into our bodies, manifesting as tension in the shoulders, a tightness in the chest, a restless mind at 2 AM. Suppressing our emotions doesn’t protect us, it isolates us. Yet, so many of us have learned that it’s safer to stay quiet than to risk being vulnerable, or dare I say “difficult”.

Maybe we were taught that expressing feelings is dramatic. That saying what we need makes us needy. Or that honesty will push people away instead of bringing them closer. But the truth is, unspoken feelings don’t dissolve. They fester. And eventually, they come out, sometimes as resentment, sometimes as anxiety, sometimes as a deep loneliness, even when we’re surrounded by people.

When did we decide that emotional self-protection meant shutting ourselves off? That real strength is silence rather than speaking up?

And so, I propose you do something radical. Speak. Say what you feel, even if your voice shakes. Because sometimes, in a world that teaches us to filter, suppress, and be easy to love, the bravest thing we can do is let ourselves be fully seen.

Remember, connection isn’t built on what we hold back. It’s built on what we dare to share.