It’s hard when you feel invisible.
Perhaps when you try to say something, others talk over you. Maybe when you speak, it feels like nobody is listening.
When you feel this way, it can be detrimental to your mental and physical health. Feeling invisible can be a lonely and isolating cycle.
When you’re with people, it seems they know you’re there and recognize you, yet you still feel overlooked, unheard, and unseen. When you find the courage to speak up, it doesn’t feel like anyone hears you.
Over time, the consistent feeling of invisibility and unimportance can erode your self-esteem and self-confidence and shift your mindset from positive thinking to catastrophizing. You’re left to feel as if you don’t matter, which couldn’t be further from the truth!
So why do you feel that way?
1. Mental health difficulties are affecting your perception and behavior.
Mental health is complex, and a diagnosis like depression or anxiety could be why you feel invisible. Speaking from personal experience, I know how heavy it is to carry around depression and anxiety. It can feel like a debilitating weight resting on your shoulders, chipping away at your energy, happiness, and desire to live.
At my worst moments, it felt like I was all but a dead soul trapped inside of a human body. I would complete the daily obligations, smile at others, and make appropriate small talk, but on the inside, there was a deep hole of nothingness. Interactions don’t feel natural or pleasant; frankly, the intoxicating loneliness is almost an invitation to remain invisible.
Anxiety is another wicked beast that can make feeling like you belong a nearly impossible feat. It leads you to question yourself, and your self-confidence shrinks. Fear of rejection, falling by comparison, and sinking into the depths of darkness can leave a person feeling invisible.
It might feel like people don’t know you’re there or that you’re not a valued part of the group. Maybe you don’t feel like you have anything in common or that when you speak it doesn’t resonate with anyone.
2. Childhood taught you to remain quiet.
If you were often overlooked as a child, expected to be compliant, or outright ignored, this might be why you feel invisible as an adult. Growing up as an invisible child taught you that you must prove your worth to justify your existence. You learned that your voice wasn’t important, so naturally, you’ve retreated inside and felt invisible.
If you grew up without loving parents, then it’s possible that you internalized your emotions and projected those feelings onto the world. When a child is raised like this—overlooked and undervalued—they internalize those feelings and believe them to be true.
Children who grow up in this type of environment are not given the opportunity to express themselves, learn and label their emotions, share their opinions, and communicate their needs. Instead, they’re overlooked, and labeled as compliant, and they learn to accept their given place in the world. This is absolutely destructive and carries lifelong effects.
3. Shyness makes you feel uncomfortable standing out.
If you’re shy, you might find it challenging to connect and form healthy relationships with others. When prompted to speak, you might feel awkward or anxious. You may suffer from a particular “cat got your tongue” syndrome. Shyness is real and can be the reason you feel invisible.
4. Chronic illness or disability make you feel unheard and undervalued.
Living with illness or disability can be a stigmatizing journey that can leave you feeling unseen, invisible, and like a burden. Disabilities and illnesses include a large number of things and might bring physical pain, limited motor movements, slurred speech, behavioral differences and more.
These factors alone contribute to feeling invisible and unimportant. Every moment can be a challenge when you’re living with a disability or illness. Life becomes a silent test, and you move through each painful moment as gently as possible.
5. You’re lonely and isolated.
If you live close to your loved ones, but they make little effort to keep in contact with you, it can easily cause you to feel lonely and isolated. Feeling consistent loneliness can be destructive and toxic to every part of you.
Isolation can have a literal cause (i.e., you live far away from loved ones) or a mental cause (i.e., your mind is manifesting the feeling of being chained down and isolated even if you have loved ones close by).
6. You’re socially anxious.
Social anxiety is enough to leave you feeling invisible all by itself. It’s a beast that can swipe in so many different ways. For example, social anxiety might make you second guess yourself in front of others, feel apprehensive about going out, or feel triggered by social situations.
Sometimes, the effects can be so intense that it can cause a person to isolate themselves entirely in the hopes of avoiding the anxiety altogether.
7. You’re living in your head.
If you’re stuck living in your head, that might contribute to your feelings of being invisible. Perhaps your thoughts are stuck on replay over and over, you’re second-guessing everything you say, or you’re anticipating what to say next and getting all worked up. Whatever the reason, you need to get out of your own head.
Finally…
The effects of feeling invisible are detrimental, destructive, and can be dangerous. For example, feeling invisible might lead a person to retreat internally and fall into depression, or it could trigger anxiety and exacerbate symptoms.
Invisibility makes you feel:
– Unimportant
– Isolated and out of touch
– Frustrated
– Angry
– Inadequate
Feeling invisible is tough. Whether you’re feeling it when you’re with a certain group of people or all on your own, invisibility can feel like a giant sinkhole. Loneliness, solitary living, and feeling invisible can have enormously adverse effects.
Therefore, it’s imperative that you acknowledge your feelings, begin a path of understanding what the root of the feeling is, and set up a system to combat feeling invisible. If you can access it, therapy is a good place to start.
