Women: Are You Self- Silencing?

Have you hushed your opinions? Stopped mid-sentence and changed the subject out of fear of making waves even though someone else's words may have hurt your feelings? Did you know you are putting your health at risk?

In honor of Mental Health Day, we are going to talk about something that not a lot of people acknowledge: self- silencing. This is something that is normally associated with victims of domestic violence, but that isn't always true. Granted, a lot of people who are survivors of DV, myself included, self-silence because we are used to having to in order to survive.

Science now is showing that the act of self-silencing is actually BAD for your health. A new study actually shows that women who actively self-silence are at a higher risk of arterial plaque buildup -- we are literally setting ourselves up for a stroke.

Self-silencing is also a form of self abuse. We are so afraid of making waves and causing confrontation that we submit to being silent and hide our opinions and feelings away in order to please other people.

This is not healthy.

So let's take a stand against self-silencing and let's stand up for ourselves, our opinions, and our emotions -- because YOU deserve it.