Why I’m Okay With Wearing My Heart On My Sleeve

Before I get into this post, I’m going to share the definition of ‘wearing your heart on your sleeve’ from the one and only Urban Dictionary: ‘When a person displays their feelings instead of hiding them.’

That’s pretty much me summed up.

I never before would have described myself as someone who wears their heart on their sleeve, but I’ve come to realise that I absolutely am that person.

I’m a bit of an over-sharer (if you couldn’t tell), and I find it very hard to lie about how I feel. If you ask me how I am and I’m having a bad day, I won’t say ‘fine!’ and pretend everything is sunshine and roses. I’ll tell you the truth.

And that applies to pretty much everything in my life.

The extent of the truth depends on who I’m talking to, and how much I know/trust them, but I just don’t see the point in trying to make people believe I’m someone I’m not.

I’m an emotional person, and it’s part of my identity as much as where I live is.

I cry when I hear that a couple I know has broken up, I try to hold back the tears if I see something even remotely emotional on tv and I feel a twinge in my chest when I see something sad.

I jump with joy when I see something that excites me, and laugh out loud, even if I’m alone, if I think of or see something funny.

If you meet me and I feel like we click/I can trust you, I’ll willingly open up about my life, my struggles in the past and my dreams for the future, should they come up in conversation.

And why not? Why would I hide something that’s such a big part of who I am?

I love to hear about other people’s struggles and dreams too, to have a deep meaningful conversation over a glass of wine or cup of tea and to just be completely honest and cut out the bullsh*t.

By being honest with my emotions and how I feel, I don’t view it as giving pieces of myself away to other people, but rather allowing myself to fully be who I am – flaws and all.

Don’t get me wrong, in a professional situation or if there’s someone I just don’t click with, I don’t go around shouting about how I feel and where I see myself in five years. I’d like to believe that I’m a pretty good judge of character when it comes to who I open up to, and if I don’t, there’s plenty of other things I’ll happily discuss.

What inspired me to write this post was that a few weeks ago I found myself feeling a bit embarrassed that I’d shared information about past with someone I didn’t know very well. But then I realised there’s nothing wrong with being an honest person, once you’re not hurting anyone else in the process.

Wearing your heart on your sleeve has a bit of a bad reputation and is something we’re all told not to do, and while being cautious and wary is part of being human, being honest and emotional is too.

Being someone who doesn’t hide their emotions (in moderation) can be draining at times, but for me it means creating great relationships with new people, strengthening relationships with those who are already in my life and being able to share both my happiness and sadness with other people.

And while sharing the difficult times isn’t always easy – sharing the happy ones always is. And that totally makes crying at an ad for sausages totally worth it.

[PS: Shoutout to my boyfriend (who you can see in the reflection of my sunglasses!) for being v patient and taking these photos <3] [shopr collection=”shop-my-outfit”]