Nay’s Almanac
A record of how I think through my life, business, and mind — in real time.
life

Emotions Are Private

During recovery, I learned that emotions consume energy too. I had been giving other people almost direct access to what happened inside me. Maybe emotions deserve a boundary—not suppression, but protection.
Nay Win Myint

by Nay Win Myint

Emotions Are Private

During those months of illness and recovery, something in my life became completely reversed.

Time was abundant. Energy was scarce.

Sunlight could overwhelm me. A door closing, someone laughing, even the sound of a plastic container could feel like too much. At times I wore sunglasses inside my room, put on my AirPods Max, and covered my eyes just to reduce what was coming in.

Even thinking had a cost. Once, it took me almost an entire day to write a simple email delegating my work.

And slowly I noticed something else:

Emotions use energy too.

Direct Access

A thought about business could raise my heartbeat. Worry, frustration, excitement, wondering what someone meant—each demanded energy from a body that had almost none left.

Looking back, I realized I had been giving other people almost direct access to my emotions.

Someone disagreed with me.

Why did she say that?

A manager didn't understand me.

How can he still not understand this?

Someone looked at me differently.

What are they thinking about me?

A small interaction outside me could immediately become a large event inside me.

I was living too much in the blink of someone else's eyes—inside their approval, disappointment or understanding.

Private Doesn't Mean Hidden

That made me think differently about the word private.

Private doesn't mean suppressed. It doesn't mean I should never become angry, sad, excited or vulnerable.

It means protected.

We don't expose everything private to everyone, all the time. We choose whom we share it with, when we share it, and whether we are ready.

Maybe emotions deserve the same boundary.

I can listen without giving someone control of what happens inside me. I can disagree without immediately spending myself on frustration. I can feel something without needing to display it, explain it or act on it.

My emotions can rise and fall.

But first, they are mine.

Shaped from my audio journals with the help of an AI assistant.

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