Getting it out

It's no longer trapped inside your head and writing it on paper makes me feel like I've told it to someone even if no one will ever see it.

I can also go back to it if I've saved it, whereas spoken words can get manipulated through time [no fault of anybody, just time], so if it's written down I can see exactly what I said and if I feel any different.

You're talking about other people replying, I think if other people reply then a lot of people rely on the good words of others and that gives a positive outlook for someone seeing those good words.

For me, when I get a reply, it puts what I've said into perspective. Anybody can say anything, but without the judgment [good or bad or neutral] of others, then it's just words with no value. Once others make that judgment it gives it value for further discussion and can help to understand my own beliefs and others beliefs.

I also tend to get ''worked up'' in my head - a worry or problem that is relatively small gets larger and larger. With each increment the reasons for it happening get more ''ridiculous'' even if at the time I think they're valid. If I write it down I might be able to evaluate which are reasonable and which are possible but unlikely and which are pretty much impossible so I can sort out what I need to worry about and what I don't. If I am too ''worked up'' then I might share it with others and they can help me, even if it means me asking a lot of questions ''what if...?'' [I hope I don't annoy others with that].

Sometimes I also have something to say, but whenever I say it it comes out wrong. I go ''in circles'' with my words trying to find the right starting point or miss out infomation I think if obvious to the other person even if it isn't. If I write it down first I can get all what I need to say and the other person can understand me better. And then when the other person replies they might ''stump me'' even if I think there is a reason I think they are wrong. I will usually find the answer to that later. If I write out what I think ahead of time with possible ''back chat'' answers, then I can be prepared for what they say. And sometimes I even work out I was probably wrong or only some of my points are valid so then it saves me an argument and I've worked something out for myself.

 

I'm not sure. I guess people just get worked up and stressed about keeping quiet about emotions and when you are able to share your feeelings with someone or write them down, it relieves the stress

 

Interesting question. I think when you keep something in, not only are you hiding it from others but you begin to feel like you should hide it from yourself in order to better keep it in.
Or when you receive a message from society that thinking a certain thing is wrong, you feel afraid if it comes up in your mind and push it away as an alien thought.

I also heard once in a TED talk that we can't "selectively numb" our feelings, meaning we can't just push away the sad feelings or the anxious feelings and keep all the rest. When we turn to habits or distractions to drown out one feeling, it also drowns out all the others including the good ones. So letting all the sad feelings out allows us to stop pushing them down and to open us up to all the other feelings.

I also feel that things like journaling or talking not only bring out the things we know we're pushing down, they also break that barrier from all the things we might not realize are being kept way down. So sometimes expressing our feelings can make us realize things we never would have known.

When you sit down with your thoughts, you get to know yourself better. When you don't let things out, even if you know what they are and think about them a lot, they get overwhelming and build up and it can make us afraid to confront our thoughts and ourselves. So getting things out is just all-around liberating and helpful.