didn’t learn was that burying those things didn’t make them disappear; it didn’t magically cure me of this disease we call softness.
The only thing that presenting a tough exterior accomplished was stunting my emotional growth and alienating people I cared about.All of those things that were an essential part of me still existed, and trying to suppress them bore a deep sense of guilt and anxiety over feeling things that I thought I shouldn’t feel.I thought this was normal.
I thought it was how everyone functioned.Then I moved away from home for college. I was fortunate enough to find friends who embraced me and encouraged me to be entirely myself.
Read more on thoughtcatalog.com