Hey there,
Thanks so much for reaching out. Experiencing difficulty expressing emotions can definitely be a challenging experience. Especially when you feel others are casting judgement on your reactions or it’s impacting your ability to make and maintain meaningful relationships. I can only imagine how isolating that must feel at times.
There are many different reasons people may feel disconnected from their emotions or may not understand their emotional experience. This can be a result traumatic experiences, neurodiversity, mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, medication, attachment issues and so so many other reasons. Emotions serve important functions and are there to communicate to us what our needs might be in that moment. It’s also pretty likely if we shut down negative emotions, we aren’t able to feel positive emotions fully either.
Because there are so many variables that may be at play here, the best advice I can give you is to reach out to a professional and book an appointment to explore where this block is coming from. If you’d like to grow in this area of your life, it’s going to require some deep exploration with professional guidance from a psychologist.
It’s important to remember as well that regardless of what others think and feel about your experience, the most important reason to address something like this is because of how it makes you feel and what’s important to you. If you want to feel more connected to others, or resolve the things that this experience is getting in the way of, it should be for yourself not for anyone else. Undergoing therapy is a big commitment, and I hope you can find some support to help you feel more connected. I wish you all the best.
Learn more about expressing emotions here.
Read more of Amber’s advice here.