Dealing With Uncomfortable Emotions
I’m all about a positive mindset - starting your day with positive affirmations 💯makes an impact on how you take on your day.
When you can’t change what’s happening to you, changing the way you response to what’s happening makes an enormous impact on your overall life.
Letting the little things slide so you don’t sweat the small stuff? Absolutely necessary to preserve your energy.
However, that doesn’t negate the fact that sometimes we’re going to experience “negative” emotions like sadness, anger, and heartbreak. These are normal human emotions and you deserve to let yourself feel them, fully and wholly.
I’m not telling you to wallow in these negative emotions for weeks. On the other end of the spectrum, avoiding these uncomfortable emotions only buries the energy internally where they will continue to grow until they reach a breaking point – and they’ll either come out tenfold or present themselves in the form of a mental or physical ailment.
Anxiety, Depression, Headaches, Stomachaches, Body Pain – these are all examples of ways that emotions can manifest themselves when they’re continuously buried.
Dealing with uncomfortable emotions can be... well, uncomfortable. Hence why – at times - it seems so much easier to avoid them.
In order to release these emotions – we have to let ourselves feel them. Sometimes I find myself like Cameron Diaz in The Holiday – the scene where she is trying so hard to make herself cry because she knows she knows – as well all do – how relieving it is to finally let out a good cry.
Having a tough time letting yourself feel? Here are a few things that help me:
· Find a quiet room where you can sit by yourself. Try the White Room Meditation to remind yourself that you’re in a safe space.
· Phone a friend who will listen to you without judgment. Or ask you the tough questions you haven’t been able to ask yourself. Or both – whatever you need in the moment.
· Grab a journal – let yourself write freely without judgment. You can even rip up the pages when you’re done or burn them [in a safe space] which can feel incredibly healing.
· Need a good cry? Turn on a tried & true movie that you know will get you flowing. We all have them. If you need some inspo, check out BuzzFeed’s list of 56 Movies Guaranteed to Make You Cry.
· Find a therapist who is trained to help you work through the hard stuff. Feeling a little anxious about going in? (Don’t worry – that’s totally normal!)
· If seeing a therapist face-to-face feels tough, check out BetterHelp: an app that lets you talk with a licensed therapist via a chat box. (The only downside is that it’s not always immediate, so you may need to wait in between responses unless you schedule a live session). It’s a paid service but they offer a free 7-day trial. After that, cost ranges from $40-$70/week.
Every single emotion you’re feeling – even the uncomfortable ones – are human nature. And remember, you deserve to let yourself feel every single one of them as fully and wholly as you need. ❤️
Have anything to add to this list? Leave a comment below!