When we hold our deepest truths locked away inside for fear of social reprisal, self-doubt, or otherwise, we not only rob ourselves of a healthy, balanced, flowing existence, but those around us are also robbed of our unique and valuable point of view.

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I met a good anarchist friend in Tokyo yesterday who I now consider to be the "Morpheus to my Neo," in many, many ways. It's not often that you meet someone who can offer genuinely original points of view and challenging new information in a kind, direct, and very human way.

We hit up a restaurant and ended up talking about self-expression, and came to the mutual conclusion that if you don't express the truth you hold inside in healthy ways, something inside will feel..yet undone. Unasnwered. Undelivered. Un...expressed. Lit. "not pushed out." This in turn affects our ability to experience deep, restful sleep (we had been talking about our shared battles and strange relationships with healthy sleep). You can't fall into a truly deep sleep half-pregnant with something you still really need feel the need to express, in other words.

I am a pretty open individual here on this blog, and I sometimes find negative reactions to my points of view. I was mentioning to this friend that maybe I should just let some of the things I see go, and get on with my life, not investing to much in "fighting the battle."

While he agreed that there may be a point at which one needs to choose their battles and "get on with their own life," he said something which caught me off guard. I had mentioned that not many people seemed to really give a shit about some of what I have been attempting to expose in anarchist circles here on Steemit and other social media in the last months. "So what," is what he said. "Say it anyway."

"Morpheus" then went on to describe how he has given up on self-expression for the sake of "changing minds," "waking people up," or "ultility." That stuff is not the real reason we need to express ourselves.
"Do it because it feels good," is what he said. It feels right to say our truth. This doesn't just benefit ourselves, though. When folks are open and speaking their minds, we can play off of and learn from one another. We can disagree or agree, or be somewhere in between and know exactly where we stand. This kind of communication brings peace, ultimately, because it brings peace to the individual. You know when the worst fights, violence and discord happen? In intense, fear-saturated situations without genuine communication.

I have to agree. If you don't EX-PRESS (literally "push out") those things you are truly convicted/passionate about, you will be in a perpetual state of IM-PRESS, trying to lick everyone's behind and make sure everyone approves of you, while feeling like total garbage because you have rejected your own irrefutable human dignity and capacity as a thinking, feeling, and intelligent individual.

Plus, you can't get a good night's sleep!

Take a lesson from the dog in the meme above, and EXPRESS YOURSELF!

~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)