Trying to numb

but metastasizing our emotions

Photo by Road Ahead on Unsplash

I heard this quote today on a Dr. Brene Brown podcast, which I was listening to for my Leadership class and in it she said this -

We become disembodied from our emotions, so we don’t even recognize them.

She also quoting another guest she had on the show, Susan David.

“When we don’t attend to emotions, they metastasize and they grow, and so, when we are disembodied from our emotions, and we can’t really recognize them, we don’t feel them, they grow and grow and grow, and take over. On the other hand, when the heart is open and free, and we’re connected to our emotions and understand what they’re telling us, completely new worlds open up, including better better decision making critical thinking, self compassion, empathy, team-building trust…our ego is great for locking our heart…ego will try to minimize risk.”

She also speaks at length about numbing, which I am well acquainted with - as an alcoholic, but - as she points out - most of us engage in it in some shape or form.

Food, shopping, social media, exercise, there are so many ways to numb.

But, the point that I really enjoyed from the above quote was the need to understand that if we don’t manage our emotions, they will metastasize. They will grow, fester, and I think it’s completely fitting that they use this word commonly associated with cancer, malignancy.

I was interested to know that emotions come from a root word, emote - which means to move through.

Emotions are meant to move through, but if we don’t allow them to do that, they get stuck and they fester; it gets so, so much worse.

The emotions can be so overwhelming and all-compassing, especially with trauma(s) and multiple losses/griefs -

But, there’s really no other way around it -

What I have learned is that you will pay the piper eventually.

If you shove it down, put it off -

You will have to pay it back, and with an awfully high interest rate.