Alexia McLeod, LCSW on Instagram: "Expressing your needs isn’t selfish — it’s relationally honest. Needs don’t make you demanding. They make you human. And pretending you don’t have them doesn’t make you easier to love — it just makes you quieter and more resentful over time. From a therapeutic perspective, unspoken needs don’t disappear. They show up indirectly. As irritation. As emotional withdrawal. As feeling unseen without knowing why. Healthy relationships aren’t built on mind-reading. The