Some people have this natural tendency to pretend to be okay. Maybe because they don't want to attract sympathy or pity to themselves, or they don't want to hurt someone's feelings. The thing about pretending to be okay is that you will bottle a lot of things inside.
People won't even know what's going on inside you. You keep bottling and bottling it up until it becomes too much and you either break down or have an emotional explosion. Someone seeing that would wonder where it is coming from, not knowing that it has been building over time.
I think pretending to be okay has effects on your relationship with people because you're not being honest with them. Let's say someone does something to you that you don't like, but you pretend you're okay with it. That person won't know that you're not okay with it, and so they keep doing it. This piles up resentment in your towards that person. Before you know, you might display behaviours that might be weird to that person or you begin to give your distance.
To the person, you suddenly just started distancing yourself and giving weird vibes, but actually, the resentment in you had been piling up to the point where it started manifesting.
This is why honesty is crucial. Being honest about how you feel regarding a situation or an action is always the best way. That tells the person that you don't like their actions, and they would be able to learn and never do it again. Being honest about how you feel also let's people know what you're going through. This would make them want to be there for us and be understanding. In fact, it brings you closer to them and strengthen whatever bond that already existed.
Sometimes, all we need is a little sympathy. It can go a long way. A lot of times, we need to pay attention to what's staring at us in the face and stop pretending to be okay. Bottling feelings never really helped anyone.
Pretending to be okay is never a good plan because ultimately, you will implode.