The Cost of Emotional Suppression
There’s a high cost to pretending. The more I
performed happiness, the less people
checked in. Eventually, even I stopped asking
myself what I was really feeling. My grief
didn’t disappear it just sank deeper, showing
up as fatigue, as tension in my shoulders, as
silence when I needed words.
And then there’s the ache of invisible grief
when you’re surrounded by people yet feel
profoundly alone. Because they see the smile.
They hear the laugh. And they think you’re
okay. And maybe that’s what hurts most being
unseen in plain sight.
Healing Through Authenticity
Sometimes, we keep chasing happiness not
because it’s close but because slowing down
would force us to feel what we’ve been
avoiding. The sadness. The loneliness. The
grief we never gave enough time.
Stillness is terrifying when you’ve built your
life around momentum. If we stop chasing, we
might have to admit we’re lost. So, we keep
going smiling, performing, ticking boxes
hoping the feeling will eventually catch up.
But real happiness doesn’t come from the
chase. It comes from the pause.
SHE TALKS | 9