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Idiom: Get something off your chest
Movies tend to glorify the strong, silent type of character who never feels the need to get something off their chest.
Generally, these types of characters are very good at keeping their problems bottled up inside until they erupt in violent revenge.
We’ll have to leave that to the action movies, though, because most of us realize that bottling up our problems and taking violent revenge results in two things: mental stress and jail time.
When you get something off your chest, you tell another person about issues that have been bothering you for some time.
Even if the person you speak to cannot do anything about your issues, the simple act of talking about them can make you feel better.
You feel like a heavy weight has been lifted off your shoulders or chest for today’s purposes.
When we keep our problems to ourselves, we tend to think and worry about them constantly.
This creates mental stress for us, making us feel like we are carrying around a weight.
Some people have described it as not being able to breathe or having the feeling of drowning without being underwater.
Whenever there is a mass shooting, natural disaster or horrendous accident, governments send counsellors to the location so that they can help people deal with the stress of the situation.
Negative feelings can build up over time.
By discussing what they have witnessed and getting their thoughts, worries and concerns off their chests, traumatized people will be better able to deal with the situation and begin the healing process.
Naturally, talking about something once will not improve everything overnight.
Eventually, however, after discussing it multiple times over weeks, months or even years, people can let go of the negative stress.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 61.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.