No one is exempt from facing emotions; they are part of the human experience. Some emotions are easier to deal with, like joy and happiness. Others, like anger and sadness, are more difficult. Perhaps you were raised in an atmosphere that viewed emotions as “bad” or “good.” Additionally, perhaps you were not taught to embrace emotions but rather to stuff emotions down and act as if they did not happen.
No matter what your views are on emotions, they can be difficult to process. However, emotions do not have to deter you from living your best life. With the proper guidance and techniques, facing emotions is doable in recovery. This blog post explores the dangers of avoiding emotions, how to practice healthy emotional habits, and how The Guest House can assist you in this endeavor.
What Is Wrong With Avoiding My Emotions?
It is easy to avoid anything uncomfortable, and emotions are no exception. Not many people get excited about sitting and feeling emotions. However, when you avoid emotions, you tend to stuff them down, and they come back around and hinder your growth.
Masking emotions can cause disruptions in every facet of your life. First, masking emotions causes you to have unclear communication patterns with those around you. If you continue to avoid your emotions, communication with others will likely continue to deteriorate. These relationship problems can lead to more emotional suppression or dissociation. Also, after denying your emotional side for so long, you may lose connection with your emotions altogether.
Secondly, emotions build up. Just like tartar accumulates on your teeth, emotions can accumulate and cause trouble. Pretending you do not have emotions may help in the moment, but ultimately it will lead to emotional suppression, as mentioned above. An example of this would be anger. Many people struggle with anger due to not facing that emotion when it arises. Therefore, anger keeps creating discomfort or “tartar” throughout your body. At some point, a major anger explosion will happen, like a cavity occurring due to not scraping off the tartar a little at a time.
How to Face My Emotions in Recovery
It takes time and patience to face emotions. This can be difficult when you are used to avoidance. That’s why it is important to give yourself grace and space to begin to recognize emotions and process them. Fortunately, several things can assist you in discovering and processing your emotions. One of those things is an individual therapist at The Guest House. A therapist can help you process emotions by providing you with the following:
Positive support: Having support is important during this time of your life. Facing emotions is not easy. It is natural to want to continue to avoid emotions if you don’t find support for feeling them. Mindfulness practices can help you stay in the present moment, which leads to facing emotions and experiencing them as they happen. With mindfulness, you stay present in the moment and face your emotions head-on instead of stuffing or avoiding them. As you continue practicing mindfulness, it will eventually lead you to emotional well-being.
A place to be honest: It can be difficult to be honest about your emotions if you’re not used to being that way. when you’re with a positive support person, you can acknowledge your emotions and begin to process how you feel. Your emotions are there for a reason and are part of the experience of life. Discounting them will eventually decrease your self-worth and lead you down a path of self-doubt.
A way to transform: As mentioned above, a trusted therapist can guide you to the answers that you are seeking. As you begin to express more of your authentic self, you will start to change your life. After all, you have come so far in recovery. You have changed a lot in your life and there should be nothing that holds you back from becoming the best version of yourself.
Facing Emotions at The Guest House
Many difficult things surface when in recovery and facing emotions is no exception. During treatment, you learned to express yourself through healthy coping skills and setting boundaries. It is time to apply all the skills you learned in treatment to help you process emotions. This is not an easy journey; however, you have positive support throughout the recovery community.
At The Guest House, we understand how facing your emotions is difficult and that is why we have a positive community that can assist you through this time. We believe that community is the key to recovery and we want to be in your community. We offer an alumni program full of people like yourself who struggle with facing emotions. It has been said that connection is parallel to recovery. Let The Guest House be your connection to emotional recovery.
Perhaps you’ve reached the point in your recovery when it is time to face your emotions. Although this is difficult, it can be one of the best places to be in. Right now can be a time of growth and change for you. How exciting that you are ready to process through things that can hold you back from being your best self. At The Guest House, we want to help you process your emotions while offering unconditional positive regard. If you or someone you know is struggling with facing emotions, please do not hesitate to give us a call at (855) 483-7800. We will be happy to answer any questions and provide a safe space for you to talk.