If someone has the opportunity to do something that he would like to do but he knows that he shouldn't (for example sleeping with his best friend's wife), and he suffers from this moral dilemma, can I say "he is fighting himself"? Or "fighting with himself"?
Learn English – To fight oneself
expressions
Related Solutions
“You seem forced” can be used to indicate what you’ve expressed
Your meaning may have been gotten better than you think. “You seem forced” employs a fairly common usage of “forced”, indicating strain even though there is not a physical force. Note that “you look forced” in your question’s title is a little different, having to do with the way that “seem” refers more comprehensively to apparent behavior and “look” refers more to physical appearance.
Another way to say this that would be specific to tone of voice, diction, etc. would be “you sound forced” which could be hedged a little as “you sound a bit forced” and would be helpfully followed by a bit of explanation or a question, such as “is everything OK?”¹ or “do you feel you have to talk to me?”
Expanding on the “look”/“seem” difference in “you don’t look yourself”
With “you don’t look yourself”, it seems like you are saying that something about the other person’s physical appearance is unusual compared with historical data or some assumed expectation (e.g. someone’s face is green or streaked with tears and you assume they are not always that way, even if you don’t know them).
If you were to say “you don’t seem yourself”, your comments would be understood to refer to someone’s overall presentation. This could certainly include physical appearance, but is more often used to refer to someone’s speech, body language, and other aspects of behavior. I believe this phrase would fit the situation you described.
Note for “you don’t seem yourself”: Similar to “you don’t look yourself”, you would be understood to either be making a comparison to ways you’ve seen this person act before or ways you assume they normally act. For example, you think that the person doesn’t normally put so much emphasis on their words or deliver them in a staccato rhythm.
The note from the end of §1 of this answer applies here as well. Since you’re guessing at something about another person, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to describe a little more what you mean by what you’re saying. I personally think it would be appropriate to ask a question aimed at learning more about how this person is feeling and/or what they think about the situation.
Best Answer
You can use the word conflict.
Conflict can be used to mean a mental struggle arising from opposing demands or impulses
Using it in a sentence :
I was conflicted; should I support the love of my life or be more pragmatic?