Our tendency to avoid emotions is one of the most significant contributing factors to our addictive patterns over the years. We’re using our drug of choice to avoid the feelings that are hardest for us to handle. Our emotional resistance and suppression create all kinds of energetic blockages. These impediments impair us and cause us to be out of alignment, unhappy, imbalanced, and unwell. Why do we avoid our emotions?
We Absorb Social Conditioning and Learn Programming
We are conditioned by our parents, family members, teachers, mentors, role models, and even our friends and peers. When we’re conditioned to avoid our emotions, we assume that avoidance is the best way to handle our feelings. Without questioning it, we go on to replicate that emotional pattern for years to come. Many of us are entirely unaware of this subtle conditioning. We follow the guidance of the people we trust. Through their actions, these people teach us how to handle our emotions. We begin to operate in life using the tools they’ve given us. We’re taught that showing emotion is a sign of weakness, that crying makes us immature. Expressing feelings is just “being dramatic,” and we’re judged for “being unable to control ourselves”. We’re taught to suppress our anger, sadness, and fear. Each day, we wake up and put on a brave face no matter what’s going on. We’re programmed to fear our emotions through this kind of emotional conditioning.
We Develop a Fear-Based Relationship With Our Emotions
Our entire lives, we’ve worked hard to avoid and escape our emotions. We’re not taught to seek understanding and clarity around our feelings. It’s better to avoid feeling them altogether, so we don’t have to learn how to process and move through our challenging emotions. The relationship with our feelings is based on fear. We’re afraid of feeling the pain and discomfort of grief, shame, anger, and anxiety. Our conditioning has left us convinced that we will be judged for showing such weakness. We’re worried that if we do allow ourselves to feel, we’ll be overwhelmed, and we won’t be able to handle them. Over the years, we’ve internalized many problematic attitudes toward natural human emotions. In recovery, we have to un-learn these ideas so that we can confront and grow through our painful conditioning.
At The Guest House Ocala, we are uniquely equipped to help our guests heal from trauma-induced substance abuse and process addictions in a safe, comfortable and confidential setting.
Call 855-483-7800 today for more information on our treatment programs.
theguesthouseocala.com
3230 Northeast 55th Avenue Silver Springs, FL 34488