October 9, 2024

Boost Your Mental Health - Stop Stuffing Your Emotions

Emotions are a complex and complicated human experience. Sometimes, emotions are wonderful – think about what it feels like to be in love, have a fun day with friends, or feel pride in your work. However, there are many times when emotions are difficult – think about failing at something, losing a loved one, or feeling hurt by someone’s actions.

This is a simplistic breakdown of human emotions. Truthfully, emotions exist on a huge spectrum that fall in between the extremes of “highs” and “lows” – often, people experience multiple emotions at the same time, which can make understanding them even more challenging.

Because emotions can be so challenging to understand and handle, many people opt to “handle” them by stuffing them down into themselves.

What does it mean to “stuff” emotions?

Think of stuffing emotions like stuffing old junk into a storage closet in your home. Over time, you can keep cramming extra junk into that closet, but eventually, you will run out of space. And you won’t be able to close the closet door as the junk begins spilling out!

Stuffing your emotions is the mental equivalent of shoving old stuff into a storage closet. When you stuff emotions back into yourself, you are ignoring or hiding them rather than processing them in real time. In the moment, it is easier to pretend like you aren’t feeling anything, so you hide or ignore your feelings in an attempt to move past them.

However, this is where those unprocessed emotions begin to feel like junk in the storage closet – hiding them doesn’t solve the problem. It merely delays the consequences of ignoring them for too long, and when big emotions get ignored for too long, they can begin to pile up into a big mess that eventually becomes too big and messy to ignore.

How can you stop stuffing your emotions?

Dealing with big, complex emotions isn’t fun work. Often, it can feel painful and raw. However, learning how to feel and accept emotions is the key to processing them fully so you can move past them. If you are ready to stop stuffing your emotions, consider implementing these basic strategies to get started.

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

If the idea of allowing yourself to feel an uncomfortable emotion makes you squirm, you are not alone – it’s difficult to do, which is why so many people stuff emotions rather than dealing with them head-on. To stop stuffing those emotions, let yourself actually accept and feel those them. This can take time, but allowing yourself to acknowledge those big feelings is the first step toward processing them correctly.

Accept that emotions are normal.

Emotions – whether they are the good, the bad, or the ugly – are all normal. When you feel a certain way, it is important to validate your experience, even if it is unpleasant. Allow yourself to accept that emotions are normal and natural, no matter how extreme or uncomfortable they might be.

Be up-front about how you are feeling.

Be honest with yourself and others when you are experiencing emotional reactions. For example, if someone says something that makes you feel uncomfortable, speak up. If you notice that a choice you made makes you feel guilty, acknowledge it with yourself as you notice that feeling happening.

Being up-front with yourself is key when you are trying to stop stuffing your emotions – getting those feelings out and expressed is important to do, before you have a chance to try stuffing them down and concealing them.

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If you enjoyed this content, check out my Substack Newsletter "Boost The Power of Your Brain" at: https://theunreliablemind.substack.com/p/boost-the-power-of-your-brain