Share Your Negative Emotions with Your Spouse

One of the biggest issues in relationships comes when a person keeps negative emotions inside for fear of alienating his partner. Wearing such a mask is hiding your true self from your partner. If someone loves you, that person will understand that you are human and that human beings sometimes get angry or sad.

Both anger and sadness are human emotions. They are a part of who we are. God meant for us to feel our feelings, regardless of what those feelings are. If we feel joyous, we laugh. If we feel sad, we cry. If we feel angry, we may yell. God gave us tears for a reason. He did not mean for us to hold them inside.

Sue and Mark have been married for 23 years. Sue has always been such a positive and upbeat person, and this is one of the reasons that Mark fell in love with her. Little did Mark know that deep down Sue was not feeling positive and upbeat all of the time. She held her negative emotions inside because she was afraid that if she expressed her darker feelings, Mark would somehow reject her.

Because Sue was dishonest with Mark in regard to her feelings, she was also being dishonest with herself. When a person shoves feelings deep inside, those feelings will eventually manifest themselves in some way because they are toxic to hold inside. In Sue's case, she eventually became very depressed and developed an eating disorder. Her depression was a shock to Mark, because his wife had always been so happy. When he learned that she had not been showing her true self to him, he was hurt and angry. To him, it showed a lack of trust in him and in their relationship. After Sue and Mark decided to go to marriage counseling to address their issues, they were able to work through their problems. Today Sue trusts herself enough to share her feelings with Mark.

Perhaps it is time to evaluate your relationship with both yourself and your loved one. Are you trying to be someone other than who you are? Do you hold your negative emotions inside? If you are, try and figure out the reason why. Try revealing your true self a little at a time, and see what happens. You will find out that it isn't nearly as difficult as you had imagined. You will also find that you feel better and that your significant other will be more understanding than you thought.