“You’re so sensitive!”

“It’s not that deep, get over it.”

“Stop taking everything seriously, you’re too emotional.”

These are the words I’ve heard my entire life. From my family, to my teachers, and even my friends. At first glance, these words don’t seem harmful, but things like this can sink deeper than people may think. 

Everyone sees the world differently. 

For people like me, we need time to process emotions; the best way to describe it is emotional flooding. Yet, society has come to stigmatize showing emotions, seeing it as weak, and it leads to people bottling their emotions instead of letting them out.

Expressing emotions shouldn’t be seen as bad; it’s a natural human instinct. Some people feel emotions strongly. They’re not weak, nor are they too sensitive; it simply means that they’re honest about how they feel, and this shouldn’t be judged, but accepted.

People have blended showing any sadness or any other negative emotion with the label of being “too sensitive,” when they’re only showing how they feel. When words like these get passed around, it creates an environment where it’s not okay to express what we’re feeling and suppress our emotions to avoid being called “too sensitive.” 

However, being “too emotional” could be seen as a strength. People who feel deeply can lead to greater empathy and understanding of people on a much deeper level. 

At the end of the day, being emotional shouldn’t be something to be ashamed of, it’s something to be proud of. Feeling heavy emotions means you care deeply, and that’s what makes us humans. 

Instead of following the stigma of seeing emotions as a weakness, we can see them as a sign of strength, empathy, and understanding. The world doesn’t need more people to suppress their emotions, it needs more people to not be afraid to express how they feel.