How do I best deal with this fear?

Hello folks,

For a while now, I've had the problem of being afraid to talk about certain things with my therapist. Not because the therapist is bad or anything, but because I'm afraid of looking stupid. I'm afraid of expressing my problems and that my therapist will think I'm stupid. Or that he'll think I'm exaggerating, that these aren't real problems, and that I'm just taking someone else's therapy spot away.

He doesn't even have to verbalize this negative thinking; just the possibility that he might think something like that is awful for me. Everything I say feels like a big problem in my head. A problem that should be addressed. A problem that's making my life harder. But as soon as I say it, a wave of shame hits me, and it suddenly feels like it's something that doesn't really matter.

I experience similar things in everyday life, but as I said, I just can't bring myself to talk about it.

I've thought about writing down my problems on a piece of paper and giving it to my therapist. But even that would be too uncomfortable, and I think I'd look really stupid.

Do you know this problem and how can I best deal with it?