insight on why I present as unhappy all the time
When I am happy, I feel paranoid. I feel like I don't want to be witnessed being happy. This is an odd sensation which took some time to perceive and yet longer to believe. See, I get it, I was trained not to be seen happy. Not obviously trained, but subtly. If I was witnessed in a good mood, my mother, my siblings, school bullies or Dan, yes he too participated, would immediately act to bring me down. like I'm not allowed to be happy. So I learned subconsciously to keep it to myself.
Which means that around others I am not myself, I am a misery person because I was trained to show only that side, to focus on it in conversation, to present myself as already so pathetic I'm not worth hassling.
Damn that's sad. And outrageous.
I do want to change it but I don't know how. I mean, sure, I can tell myself to aggressively be cheerful but I already DO, and it does nothing.
Yeah, dead end. No idea how to address this one.