Why It Is Necessary to Show Emotions
From a young age, we are made to believe that expressing emotions is a sign of weakness. It shows the other person that you have a soft heart and cannot handle any type of negative talk. The machismo and bravado you show in certain situations make other people believe you don’t have a heart. People treating you based on their skewed perception of you can impact your mental health.
Some healthy emotions are short-lived, while others are long-lasting. For example, a tiff with a colleague will last a day or two, making you feel annoyed whenever you look at them. The emotions swirling inside you will wash away once you immerse yourself in work. On the other hand, the loss of a loved one is something that stays with you forever. You might not cry at their funeral and put on a brave face because that’s what people expect from you.
In such situations, you are withholding emotions by not allowing yourself to experience the three components of emotion.
The 3 Components of Emotion
- Subjective: How the emotion is experienced.
- Physiological: How the body reacts to the emotion.
- Expressive: How the emotion makes you behave
There Are No Bad Emotions
Can you be happy all the time?
If that’s your goal, know that happiness is fleeting, and you will eventually run out of things and reasons to feel joy.
Therefore, being happy all the time is misguided and overrated. Being happy with your job, relationship, and other miscellaneous things is all well and good. However, other emotions are essential and unavoidable.
Emotions give you information. They are cues that tell you how you perceive a situation and what you need to do to endure it. Let’s take fear as an example. Fear is neither a pleasant nor desirable feeling. Yet, it’s needed in life.
Fear activates our fight-or-flight response and pushes us to take action. Similarly, frustration tells us about the obstacles we face in life and gives us the power to come up with creative ways to cross them.
Think of your healthy emotions as a lens for interpreting information. Sometimes, happiness blinds us to the realities of the world. Therefore, non-desirable emotions have their place since they help us grow and learn.
Benefits of Expressing Emotions
- Reduces stress
- Allows you to forge healthy connections that help maintain long-lasting relationships
- Reduces anxiety
- Increases resilience
- Improves decision making
- Improves confidence
How Bottling Up Emotions Impacts Your Physical and Mental Health
Bottling up your emotions can detach you from your loved ones. You start to think that no one understands what you are going through or how you feel. This negative mindset can impact you on a mental and physical level.
Following are the consequences of shying away from your healthy emotions:
- You Feel Worried and Anxious: If you are worried about something and don’t talk about it with someone, the emotions creep on you now and then. The surge of emotions can make it difficult for you to sit still or focus on anything.
- You Develop Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms: Most people indulge in self-destructive behaviors to cope with the onslaught of emotions. These could be cutting, drinking alcohol, drug abuse, etc.
- Changes in Eating Patterns: You have probably heard of the phenomenon eating your emotions away. You will either start eating more or skip meals.
- Frequent Headaches: When your brain cannot store emotions anymore, you will start to experience a headache. This physical pain is your body’s way of telling you to let loose.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, bottling up emotions will not do you any good. It can be challenging to express them, which is why you need to figure out the cause behind your emotion. If you feel you can’t talk to your loved ones about how you feel, seek help from a qualified therapist.
HerbEra offers a collection of wellness formulas for mental health in the form of capsules and herbal supplements. These focus on mood balance, stress, energy, anxiety, and other problems that people usually experience when they fail to express their emotions. To learn more about emotions and self-discovery topics, browse their blog. For more information, call (800) 683-9837 or check the Contact Us page on our website.
