Your throat closes while your mind is screaming at you to say something. Yet, no words escape your tongue, and you find yourself burying all your feelings inside. Deciding to silence your voice and keeping everything to yourself. Holding in just seems so much easier than opening up, then to put your struggles into actual words and give them a melody. A melody for someone else to listen to.

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Talking about your problems can be intimidating, whether it’s the fear of opening up or not wanting to burden others with your troubles. It might be about being afraid of not being understood, made fun of, or having your feelings invalidated. So, it’s easy to think that bottling up your problems will make them easier to ignore. However, your struggles won’t disappear with the blowing wind just because you silence them.

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The truth is that giving your troubles a voice is key to your mental health and well-being. Studies have shown that sharing your struggles with someone you trust can reduce stress, strengthen your immune system, and lessen physical and emotional distress. Opening up about your problems is a healthy coping mechanism.

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Putting your feelings into words is actually called “affect labeling”. Labeling helps you to process what is happening or has happened to you. This process has been found to reduce the response of the part of your brain that reacts to intense feelings, known as the amygdala. Allowing you, with time, to become less stressed about the things that bother you and allowing the intensity of emotions to decrease.

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If you give yourself the space to talk and voice out what is haunting your mind, you will be hearing your own words. This allows you to reflect and process what your abstract thoughts and emotions mean as you take on a different perspective once you string together the words to express your inner world. You will gain insight into your own experiences and with time better understand yourself. It will bring you relief from the emotional and physical tension of holding in.

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Essentially, it is about realizing that you don’t have to hide yourself between these high walls you build. Pouring your heart out to others you trust will make you feel less alone and isolated. Sharing your troubles will allow you to gain a new point of view on the things you are struggling with, possibly leading to you finding a solution to your problem and providing you with hope and strength to take the necessary steps. Even simply having your feelings validated can make you feel better. When you’re honest and open with people, it can also help to bring you closer together and can make it easier to support each other through difficult times.

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Don’t let your fear or past negative experience hold you back from being vulnerable with others. Even having one single person you can open up to can light up your inner world. It might feel embarrassing or uncomfortable in the beginning, but with time and a little courage it will get better. Some days it will also be easier to find the right words to explain what you’re going through and some days it will take more time, but you don’t have to suffer in silence. Life doesn’t have to be a lonely road.

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