Faux feeling Something done to me
Smothered
Not a feeling: a thought about what someone did.
Also known as suffocated
‘I think you are crowding me and leaving me no room to be myself.’
Why it’s not a feeling
There is an image in smothered, of someone pressing so close you cannot breathe. It is a picture of what another person is doing, ‘you are smothering me’, rather than a report from inside. Look past the image and you may find frustration, anxiety or plain overwhelm.
Feelings underneath
Needs
When these needs aren’t met
Saying it as a feeling
‘I feel smothered.’
When you texted five times this afternoon to ask where I was, I felt overwhelmed and frustrated, because I need space and autonomy.