Believe me, they NEVER fade; they merely get buried deep. With time, I realized that I had anger issues; I burst into (almost) uncontrollable rage for the slightest things. It is not only bad for my pressure (no problems yet) and voice, but Honey finds it highly unattractive, for a reason.

There is a time and place to let your true emotions out. Do not fight this urge. Otherwise, as a humorist once said about his father, you will have only 2 emotions: happy and angry. It IS OK to cry when you are sad, it IS OK to feel anxious before a stressful situation, etc. Do not give in to these stupid "real men never cry" clichés.

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Depends on what emotion I'm projecting, it seems. For example, if I was angry, I would rationalize on why I am and try to calm down. Holding it in would just make me explode, as well as cause some serious problems physically and mentally. Besides, I'm a sensitive and emotional person now; I can't really suppress my feelings (like how I was able to when I was younger).

SentimentalValue :
I've been through a similar situation, before. It's not healthy to hold your emotions inside. I may sound like your parents or seem immature in some way, but... I don't want someone going through something I went through. Unless, you do want to go through this? I doubt that's what you want, but I could be wrong and just assumed it. Anyways, try talking it over with someone you're close with or trust. Another great way is to keep a personal journal. Hope this helps ya out!

janus : when I was younger I had anger issues as well, the slightest things would send me into a frenzy, however somewhere along the lines that disappeared. I agree with you that there is a time and place for letting out emotions however I've never let out my emotions since I was really young so even though I realize this now it's made harder to do because of that fact. Honestly only having 2 emotions doesn't sound that appalling to me but I would probably not be very happy in life.
 
Kuti_Kat : I've made sure not to hold in my anger as I do know if I do I'd explode and end up hurting people around me. Video games have always let me release my anger even though people living in my house think I'm crazy . I appreciate the advice, and no I'd much prefer not to explode, I ain't a grenade lol. I don't much trust anyone, I ended up messing up the relationship with one of the only people I truly trusted sooooo yeaaa. The journal does sound like a good idea though, I'll remember that if I ever feel like somethings truly bothering me.

For someone who dislikes talking about this I seem to be talking alot about this lol

   The way I grew up there wasn't a whole lot of genuine emotion expressed. It was the kind of family that had plenty of problems, but never talked about them. My father is a good man and I love him very much, but showing emotion wasn't his strong suit back then. He has improved with age and out of necessity. I did see him cry once. At his mother's funeral visitation. So I think that may be part of the reason I find it difficult to express feelings myself. Joke? Yes. No problem. Cry? um....Joke? Sometimes I let it out in the shower. Where no one can hear or see and the tears just run down the drain taking my feelings with them. Then I dry off and I'm better. eh. I'm in counseling. lol it's true. As far as my love life I would say that it has been a barrier I have yet to overcome. I can only let someone get so close before I shut them down. Subconsciously even. Denial of problems doesn't make them go away. At all.  Best of luck man. You're young. A jillion fish out there still who knows?

I used to keep some of the more non-positive emotions to myself when I was younger. I guess just because I didn't want to let too many people into the depressing nature of my home life at times.

I will tell you this, it's good to have someone you can trust that you can express your emotions to without fear. Keeping those emotions inside is doing more harm to your psyche. In the end, they will just drag you down. Try to have a positive outlet for those emotions.

Ferdinand : sounds like you had a tough childhood, and I understand what you mean about the barrier, it's like someone gets close but
 once they get to a certain point you begin to panic and close yourself off from them, It's like a self defense mechanism. I'm beginning to feel like emotion suppression is going to end up largely impacting my future.

Jordanv78 : It's hard finding someone that you can truly trust though because nowadays there are so may fake people. It's also made harder to talk to people about because of all the stereotypes that males have to face about this sort of thing. Family would probably be the best option but I only have females in my house, so it never felt comfortable talking to them. Although I do have some close friends who would probably hear me out, but I'm the type of person that sees the glass as half empty so i see the negatives and end up asking "what if....".

I know that I tend to do this a lot as well.  To the majority of the world, I only show what I feel people want to see, which is usually a smile or laughter.  I joke way more than I am serious and don't share too much either.  Even with friends, I don't usually share too much of what I am feeling.  But when I do occasionally talk to someone about my problems or things going on with my life, it helps a lot.  I feel much better and sort of like a weight is lifted.  I am still working at getting better at talking about these things, but I do know it is nice.  It is almost always someone close that I talk to.  They understand and help as best as they can.

I know it's not healthy, but I actually have an ability to shut off emotion at times of crisis, then process them later. For example, my grandmother passed away last year in September. I didn't process her death until late February, which is when my depression became horrible. I can literally wake up one morning and feel nothing about a situation. It's bizarre, and I'm not even sure how I do it. Pretty sure it's a built-in coping mechanism I picked up along the way. 

As for hiding in emotion and only displaying happiness, I think that's quite common. For whatever reason, society frowns on you for being depressed or sad. We must never stop being happy; that burdens the rest of people. And god forbid we make sadness seem like a GOOD thing to have. It sucks when there's pressure on you to hold everything in. Maybe you should talk to someone about how you're feeling. I'd say a therapist, but maybe try opening to a friend. Someone you are close to. That could induce emotion. It's not healthy, despite what everyone seems to think, to always feel happy. Sadness is a good thing. Depression is a good thing (in mildness and definitely not to the point where you cannot function. seek help if that's the case). It means we're alive (not to get all poetic and stuff up in here, but seriously. It's okay.) 

writingwolves : frown? I guess "your" society is more accepting. Around me I see people looking at depression (and mental diseases in general) akin to having leprosy. Sure, one *might* be able to partially change the brain chemistry with positive attitude, but sometimes it is just not possible. Anti-depressors can have their usefulness

It seems that people only accept "negative" feelings at funerals. As if one could not feel sad otherwise...

writingwolves : actually that is a very normal response to a crisis or tragedy. Your body/mind is capable of handling a lot and will limit how much of a problem you deal with. People go into coma's in order to deal with serious physical injuries while their body recovers. Blocking emotion might be a similar thing to that.

I do the same thing when something bad happens. Rather than dealing with the emotion right away I deal with the problem at hand and then deal with the emotions later.

SentimentalValue : I constantly suppress my emotions both positive and negative. Not out of a desire to not feel them but as a way to protect myself. I don't like feeling vulnerable so I choose to feel my emotions when I'm ready to and feel safe in doing so. For a long time I thought that I was becoming emotionless but then I had kids and realized that it wasn't a lack of emotion that I was feeling but suppression of extremely strong feelings. My feelings run VERY deep and if I let them come to the surface they are extremely overwhelming. Perhaps that is something similar to how you are.

Sentimental,if anything that is great to feel your emotions fade. You have a neutral stance and you can make a decision based on facts,not emotion. I have to suppress my anger at every little thing. I am the kind that is easily annoyed at daily stupidity and people that cannot shut up.

Funny that you say this...what you said in your post used to be the old me. I never wanted to feel any because of most life problems I had I just shut it off and never wanting the feel of pain or to cry. I was used to this for many years...I still do this but not so uptight as it was before. Because I know fully well how to shut off my emotions when I need too. I have come t the point when something happens I just brush it off because its the same ongoing thing that gets me tired of it. But if it is to do with my family...then that is different in a way.

I use to suppress my emotions a lot with my family and my last relationship which did not help much as it just made me less happier and found myself easily irritated and mad at little things. I know say exactly what I feel with little to no disregard as to how that makes anyone else feel. Is not that I am disrespectful about it, I just put my feelings first rather than theirs and I make my emotions clear so that there is no chance of misunderstandings. I just know that you can hide your feelings but, they won't go away just sit there until you explode which could be at a wrong place wrong time type of scenario. I rather say what I feel and just keep moving. 

This oddly sounds like what I'm going through right now. I don't really show any emotion other than happiness maybe even show myself smiling (sometimes fake) because usually I don't like to talk about my personal feelings. And similar to other posters in this thread, I get angry easily, though it mostly shows when I play a video game since I don't often chat and I tend to try and get out of arguments and change the subject before anything worsens.

Maybe I will change over the years, it could happen, after all I truthfully happy of what I currently got. Just hope it stays that way.

Huh, that's very odd. I'm the complete opposite when it comes to my emotions; it's almost impossible for me to suppress them.

I've probably already shown all over how willingly I give my strong opinions for many things, as well as state how I feel about incidents. I have a pretty thin skin, and a lot of things get to me very easily. I'm the worst politician, essentially.

Andrewl3779 : Hiding your emotions is sometimes justified, especially in front of people you do not completely trust. It might reveal a weakness and do you a disservice.

SWTerra : Then what you need is control, not suppression . Emotional suppression is usually encouraged for boys, since men do not show tears apparently. It IS OK to be angry sometimes, just do not let it burst out of control and complete your journey to the Dark Side.

janus : I show tears a ton, so...um...

Does that suddenly make me not a boy or something? I know that whole thing about "real men don't show tears," and I think it's total bull.

SWTerra : I think so too, do not worry. I just despise those horrible "tough man, delicate woman" stereotypes. This toughness has probably killed my grandfather, whose autopsy showed that his arteries were COMPLETELY clogged.

janus : Wow, that is pretty harsh.

Although not necessarily the stereotypes, I know what you're talking about with his stress levels...that's very unfortunate.