Sensitivity Does Not Equal Weakness

Being sensitive does not make you weak.

I’ll say it again for the people in the back.

Being sensitive does not make you weak.

Destroy this misconception that strength requires you to harden your heart and cut off your emotions. It could never be more wrong.

Feeling emotion is what requires strength and bravery. Suppressing them is not only harmful and damaging, it’s also the easier way out. And yes, sometimes it feels like it’s impossible to breathe and you cannot cope with the strength of your emotions because they’re too much to bear.

But suppression as a coping mechanism does not work. It’s a stopgap measure that eventually stops working because it’s just a band aid being slapped over a gaping wound. It will fail.

Feeling those emotions, having the strength to both feel and own up to them? That’s a beautiful thing. And it is never something that you should feel the need to be ashamed of.

I was, for a long time. People would tell me not to be so sensitive – that life is hard and if you show your weak places, people will take advantage of you. I’ve always loathed that advice.

First off – yes, the world can be hard. And yes, some despicable people out there will try to take advantage of you. But that does not mean that you should lock away your emotions on the off chance that they’ll be used against you. You’ll end up doing far more damage to yourself than those potential villains ever could.

Secondly – if the world is so hard, don’t you think we should maybe make the effort to change it? The world is hard because we let it be that way. We accept emotional manipulation as just something ugly that happens and is unavoidable. And, by doing that, we contribute to the problem.

Few people stand up and call others out when they use someone’s weaknesses against them. In certain circles, it’s even seen as something to be praised. And the poor person who refused to hide away a part of themselves is ridiculed for not being more savvy.

Frankly, it’s kind of pathetic to celebrate taking advantage of people in such a way.

We need to change this mentality that showing emotion is something to cringe at and look down upon. It truly, truly is not.

Embrace your feelings. They’re a part of you and rejecting them is never going to be good for you. Laugh wholeheartedly when you’re happy. Cry when you’re sad. Cry when you’re happy. And don’t apologize for any of it.