Why numbing your emotions, pain, or discomfort can be harmful for your health.

This pandemic has forced us to stop running and racing which has been very difficult for a lot of people.

Doing nothing is more difficult than we realised!

It gives space for feelings and emotions to present which we find uncomfortable.

We have more time to process our emotional state. And for some of us, this has not been easy. Many feel the easier option is to numb the feelings and turn to substances or distractions – but in reality, this is the tougher option and taking the long road.

Avoidance and burying feelings is far more difficult. It uses up a lot of our vital energy.  We become tired, drained, lethargic and even apathetic.

Take anger for example. Trying to keep anger down is the same as trying to keep a football immersed in a barrel of water. Wouldn’t you have a pain in your hand after a minute?

What to do

I would encourage everyone to use this time to look inwards and see what is crying out for attention, what needs to be healed within. I am not saying healing is easy, but it certainly is the better option. I have never looked back and no matter how difficult it ever gets for my clients- they still say they would never to go back to how things ‘were’.

Up to this point, we lived in a world filled with major stressors and to-do lists, it can be difficult finding time to just do, absolutely nothing. When was the last time you did nothing?

By nothing, I mean absolutely nothing — no scrolling social media, no reading books or articles, no listening to podcasts, and no watching movies, TV or YouTube videos.

Give it a go and see if you find it difficult. Pause for 20 minutes. What are your thoughts? Check in and see what feelings are coming up for you?

Are you uncomfortable?

If so, you are not alone. You could say it is a GLOBAL problem.

With all that’s going on, and with all best intentions, we’re still busier and more stressed-out than ever. Even when we’re not working, many of us feel obliged to extract productivity out of every last second from our daily lives, (walk time, home school time, cleaning time, workout time) assessing our worthwhileness as human beings by how successful we are in doing so.

So be gentle with yourself. Allow yourself time. Give yourself the space to just BE.

And embrace what emotions come up for you. Let yourself feel. Let yourself heal.

This will also re-energize you and lead to greater happiness and contentment.

And if the urge to over-analyse sets in, stop,  breathe peace.