Meghan Daum Quotes

I want to express myself to feel that what I feel is real. My joy, my pain, my anger.

I always call myself an emotionalist. I feel.

Our identities really are a constant negotiation between the story we tell about ourselves and the narrative our societies like to recite.

You won't make yourself a bit realer by crying.

Comfort in expressing your emotions will allow you to share the best of yourself with others, but not being able to control your emotions will reveal your worst.

I am interested in personal stories because that's when people become expressive, spontaneous and heartfelt.

I'm very free with all my emotions, whether it's happy, sad, mad, glad, whatever.

I don't really have an issue with showing certain parts of my body. I'd rather not, but it's not a big deal. Growing up in Sweden, it's natural over there.

A certain amount of anger doesn't make us less empathetic, less humane, less loving. It just makes us real.

I think what I learned in research is that as Americans, we're very distrustful of anger. We're not sure if we should repress it. The idea that anger is supposed to be controlled is American, and we try to keep it out of our homes.

If you express yourself too much, you're considered weak.

What men don't want, in fact what anyone who's any sort of thrill-seeking, intelligent adult doesn't want, is some crushing bore describing their emotions in real time every waking hour.

I don't think you should try to be anything you're not. If you're not smiling all the time or always happy - I don't think it matters. If you're having bad day, show you're having a bad day. Don't try to put up something that's fake.

Feelings or emotions are the universal language and are to be honored. They are the authentic expression of who you are at your deepest place.

Cultural background surely plays a part in shaping identity; but it does not determine identity.

It is difficult for someone raised in my world to learn to express emotion. We are taught early to hide our feelings publicly.

Being in the space that I am as a writer, and just as a black dude in America, there's this push to be cool or be what you're expected to be. There's a need for a song that puts that in perspective. I think that's an important thing for young children to hear growing up.

I'm acting from my heart. The way how I feel is the way how I act.

There are all these languages that keep people in place that conform us to a set of terms. It's why I think the whole idea of identity as something that is something of a straitjacket. That most of us like to think of as natural and innate. That we just find and go, 'Yeah, that's who I am.'

What people will - or will not - laugh at is mainly determined by their social conditioning.

A lot of the work I've done has been about being very raw and open with your emotions.

I find it hard to act other than the way I feel.

Emotions fascinate me, just being able to express myself through acting. I love that. And I think, in everyday life, you're always trying to repress your emotions. Like if you're sad, you don't want to show it to someone else.

When I feel like it's time for me to say something and it's time for me to speak up and allow my emotions to get into the games and practice, then I will say something.

I'm quite an emotional person... I ain't just this Northern brat all the time.