Speak Up!

I have a tendency to keep things bottled up inside. I'm not very open about my emotions and I'm not very good at expressing how I feel. I probably also have a fear of confrontation.

Jer, on the other hand, is much more able to express his thoughts and verbalize his emotions. When we first started going out, my inability to vocalize my feelings or hurts really made things difficult. I would get upset at Jer and just completely shut down and not say a word to him. (I'm really good at the silent treatment.) I know it was so frustrating for him because he had no idea what he did wrong, and I wouldn't tell him what was upsetting me because I thought it was obvious.

Since then, I've gotten a bit better about talking about what's bothering me. But I occasionally revert to my old habits and shut him out. I think we deal with emotions differently and I'm starting to see and understand that more and more. He's the type of person that will think out loud and verbalize his feelings on the spot, where as I'm the type of person that needs some time to think about what I'm feeling and understand it before I'm able to talk about it.

I know it's not healthy to keep my feelings bottled up inside, and my friend Jean recently sent me this article that talks about how keeping your feelings bottled up can actually have a negative affect on women's health.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/health/02well.html?em&ex=1191470400&en=8f0060cd5f4bd5b2&ei=5087%0A