Do you bottle up? Do you avoid your feelings or suppress them? Do you turn them off, sweep them under the carpet, try to escape them? I know I do. You might do as well. What happens when you suppress your emotions for too long?
Why do you bottle it up? I’ve asked myself the same question. But today I’ll show you from my experience, the effects of bottling up your feelings. What you can do to release those repressed emotions
Why Do We Bottle Up Our Feelings?
Why do we bottle up our feelings? Is it because we are afraid to face them or because we think it’s easier, you know, to just forget about it? Is it because we care what people think or how it would affect them? Or perhaps, because we’ve been conditioned from childhood to bottle things up. For me, I think it was all of the above, unfortunately.
But you know what? Whatever your reason is or whatever your reason might be. From my experience, when you bottle things up by not expressing yourself or saying what’s really going through your mind or your heart, those emotions will weigh you down. No matter whether you know it or you don’t know it.
Bottling Up Is Like A Ticking Time Bomb
So knowingly or unknowingly, it will feel like heavy stones. It’s like a ticking time bomb. When you keep pushing it away, it will eventually explode and when that happens, you might do things you regret. Also, when you bottle things up, it can be harmful to your health. It can affect your blood pressure. It can lead to depression and anxiety. It can even lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms like, you know, drinking excessively, using drugs or over under eating, even working out excessively.
I remember how everyone thought I was working out to lose weight and not knowing it was my way to avoid certain thoughts and emotions. I read an article a few years ago that explained how your brain being stressed can affect the gut. Well, that explains a lot.
Well, another effect is having headaches on a regular basis. I mean, finding it hard to focus, getting easily distracted. All these wahala, by wahala I mean problem, all these problems from bottling things up. No, it’s time to let go.
How Do You Stop Bottling Things Up?
So how do you do that? How do you let go? How do you stop bottling things up? Well, I would say dealing with this sometimes depends on the emotions you suppress and depends on what you’re going through, right?
1. Pinpoint The Cause Of Your Emotions
But number one, first thing first. Pinpoint the cause of your emotions or feelings. Process them by trying to understand them. What sort of emotions are you feeling? What is it? Is it shame? Sadness? Is it anger? Jealousy? Is it the loss of a loved one? Is it misunderstandings? Or disagreements in your in a relationship and in friendships or with family?
Understand Your Feelings And Accept Them
So pretty much just understanding what you’re feeling – and then accept them. Acknowledge these feelings exist. Don’t feel ashamed of what you feel.
2. Talk to Someone to Let it Out
Number two, talk to someone. Some call it therapy. Just find the right person to talk to. I mean, this may not come naturally to some. For me, it didn’t. In that case, start, you can start slow. You can start by writing how you feel. You can write them in the diary or something? Or you can draw them. Personally, I like to express mine by writing poems. Whatever it is, just get in the habit of talking or communicating your feelings. Stop piling them up. No matter how small or little the problem is, just let it out.
3. Vent If You Have To!
Number three, vent if you have to! Let it all out!
4. Don’t Be Afraid Or Ashamed To Cry
Number four, don’t be afraid or ashamed to cry. It is not a sign of weakness. In fact, if you can’t express it publicly, express them privately. You can yell or cry in front of a mirror, as long as you’re letting it all out. Let it out. Understand this. We are so far from being perfect as human beings. We don’t have to pretend to have it all together.
We don’t have to be afraid to face our fears. And I’ve learned that no matter what we do, people will think what they want. So we don’t have to bottle things up because we’re afraid of what others might think of us. If you’ve been conditioned that way, growing up, then I think it’s time to know that this is a problem.
Bottling Up Will Never Solve Any Problem
Understand that bottling things up will never solve any problem. It will only make things worse. So it’s time to start learning how to break that pattern of keeping it up or keeping it all inside. I know for me, bottling up my feelings did more harm than good.
That’s my truth. So, let it out. Thank you for reading.
Meet you again at another episode of Thy Truth.
Finding Your Truth
with Efemena.