My boss gave me a book for my birthday. It's titled, "tiny beautiful things" by Cheryl Strayed. I had heard of this book before but had never been interested enough to read it. While reading a few nights ago I came across this paragraph and I couldn't stop the tears from coming...
"Withholding distorts reality. It makes the people who do the withholding ugly and small-hearted. It makes the people from whom things are withheld crazy and desperate and incapable of knowing what they actually feel...Don't be strategic or coy. Strategic and coy are for jackasses. Be brave. Be authentic."
That is the most painfully accurate explanation of what withholding causes that I have ever come across. If it doesn't automatically resonate with you then you are probably the withholder. Or by God's mercy you haven't endured real heartache yet. Either way, be brave and be authentic. Withholding is for the small-hearted.
