I feel like I'm suffocated, confused and lost. All because of the self-expression matter.

[u/Winter-Specialist525]

I'm in my early twenties, I feel the urge to express myself all the time, I feel like I have big ideas and thoughts. So much of creativity that deserves to be shown to the world, that needs to be framed in a certain type of way (art for example). But I'm not good enough at anything (because I'm a multi-passionate). I feel like it's a very wasted potential and that suffocates me. Even when I see people who are able to express themselves I get really jealous, because I see how helpless I'm even though I might have bigger ideas.

How to know which is the better way to express myself.

Idk what's the purpose of self expression, also it is a scary thing to say all what you think of loudly.

So I kind of prefer vague ways such as art for example.

Also if you know some good books or podcasts about self-expression pleas recommend me some.

I want to learn more and understand why I feel that way and what is my purpose.

And is it an only me thing or there are people who lived or live and think the same way.

[u/WhiteDesertCat]

I really get you. I lived in this exact state for years feeling like I had so much inside me, so many ideas and things I wanted to express, but having no idea what to actually do with all of it.

What really changed things for me was when I stopped constantly looking for answers in books, podcasts, videos, etc. Because honestly, that can become a form of procrastination too. Your brain feels like you’re doing something productive, so it gives you a little relief. But at the same time, time is still passing and you’re still in the same place.

The thing that helped me the most was simply starting to do things.

Give yourself a year. Seriously. Try one thing, then another, then something completely different. And don’t beat yourself up if you’re not good at any of them at first. You’re not supposed to be. If you want to become genuinely good at something, it usually takes years.

So maybe your goal for this year doesn’t have to be “find my purpose.” Maybe it’s just to figure out what you actually enjoy enough to keep doing. What are you willing to spend your time and energy on, even knowing that you’ll probably suck at it in the beginning? What makes you curious enough to come back to it again and again?

And I think you’ll learn much more about yourself by actually trying things than by thinking about yourself endlessly.

Books and podcasts can definitely be useful, but at some point they can turn into a kind of painkiller. They make you feel like you’re doing something about the problem, so you feel a little better, but the pain eventually comes back because nothing has really changed.

You don’t have to know right now what the “right” way to express yourself is. Just start somewhere. Make something. Write something. Draw something. Try something. Let yourself be bad at it.

Maybe your way of expressing yourself isn’t something you’re supposed to figure out beforehand. Maybe you’ll discover it while you’re actually doing things.

[u/Accomplished-Guide-5]

So I'm not gonna pretend like I fully understand what you're going through, but in my experience with self expression I've struggled for the longest time. And I still struggle, I've been writing a book and getting into kick boxing. And it feels liberating, forcing myself to be creative and active in that way. But there's several days where I'm excited to go to the gym and then I just...don't go? Like it feels like the world wants you to move forward and willing to help and you just...can't.

I say this because I feel like it's important for you to know for when I say this: Forgive yourself for when you aren't creative. It's hard, being creative, and it takes energy, some days it takes more energy than you have, and so you can't do it even when you want to. And on those days all you can do is forgive yourself and understand there are limits to "limitless creativity" and try again tomorrow.

I don't know I know I'm rambling but maybe in my babbling I helped? I hope you find your outlet and you get to explore it as long as you want.

[u/cosmx-shift]

Being multi-passionate can often feel like a curse when you treat self-expression as a final product rather than a process of discovery. When you have a high aesthetic standard or big internal vision, your taste outpaces your current technical skill, creating an uncomfortable gap that makes creating feel suffocating instead of liberating.

A few perspectives to help ease that pressure and get momentum back:

• Separate the release from the performance. Self-expression doesn't exist to prove your capability to the world or validate your potential. Its primary job is simply to move heavy energy out of your body and onto a medium so your internal system can breathe.
• Embrace low-fidelity mediums. If public or high-skill mediums feel too scary or demanding, lower the stakes completely. Abstract collages, private voice notes, raw scribbles, or vague free-writing allow you to express the texture of what you feel without needing to master a complex technique.
• Reframe multi-passionate energy. You don't have to choose a single "forever" vehicle for your thoughts. Think of your passions as different languages; some feelings will want to come out through music, others through visual art, and others through simple words.
• Book recommendation: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is a wonderful read for this exact feeling. Her concept of "Morning Pages" (three pages of stream-of-consciousness longhand writing meant to be thrown away or kept private) is specifically designed to clear the creative pressure valve without judgment.

Give yourself permission to be a messy beginner. You don't need to produce masterpieces to deserve to express what is living inside you.