This question comes up so often in my therapy sessions. The greatest source of invalidation comes from denying our feelings - whether we do it ourselves or others do it to us. People really struggle with the question of whether their feelings or right or wrong. Wrong question! Feelings are neither - they just are. Imagine saying that you feel hot. Can someone tell you that you're wrong? That you're not feeling hot? Of course not. They might argue that it isn't hot, particularly if you're sharing a bed together. But indeed if you feel hot, you feel hot.

Now if you're overdressed  or the thermostat is set too high you might make an adjustment and no longer feel hot. In that case what your feeling changes. Similarly, if you feel angry, unloved or disrespected, some meaningful communication might assist you to reconsider what you're feeling. Learning not to be reactive also helps in re-framing what we're feeling. But this doesn't suggest that you weren't feeling what you were.