I struggle with this. I've been kind of taught my whole life that having negative emotions are bad, so I never really learned how to properly express them because I would always get attacked for it. Now, when I try to convey to someone how I'm feeling I usually don't know how to and end up getting frustrated with myself and the situation, especially if I feel like I'm being dismissed or like they're not making an effort to understand where I'm coming from. Once I reach a certain point in my frustration, I tend to walk away and shut down because of it.

It's even more frustrating for me because when someone has an emotional response, regardless of whether I think they're in the wrong or not, I will at least validate their feelings and try and talk to them about it. I just have this automatic reaction to shut down when it comes to my feelings because I've had family, friends, and ex-boyfriends get mad at me when I even so much as hint at being annoyed or sad. I genuinely feel shame whenever I'm experiencing negative emotions, whether they're warranted or not, so I try to repress them and internalize them as much as possible.