Afraid to show the real me
Hello everyone. I felt the need to write this. I feel like two versions of me exist on the inside. One is joyful, confident, strong, while the other is hurt, afraid, fragile. But I don't really show neither to the world.
When I'm feeling good about myself or my life, the negative side of me holds me back so I don't appear too happy or excited which might upset other people, for whatever reason. That way they won't feel the need to somehow ruin my happiness or I won't feel bad for doing better than them.
And when I feel like my world is falling apart, I don't show the sadness, I keep it inside because, in my experience, people don't really know how to help or react or feel comfortable talking openly about the issues which I'm sure we all face in life. So I tell people I'm okay whether they realise something is wrong or not. In reality, I'm often far from okay, but the positive side of me is keeping me from being honest about my feelings so I don't scare people away and so I don't make others feel bad as well.
But since I'm never expressing myself openly and honestly, no one can see the real me, they just see a toned down, bland mix of my two sides. And I don't really know how to show the vibrant and emotional parts of my soul to someone who might be interested. Or how to stop caring what others might think and not feel the need to hide my feelings but instead embrace them and let them emerge, whether they're positive or negative.