If you're a human being, then it's basically proven that you are not immune to this phenomenon known as "feeling." The sensation of "feeling" is a large spectrum, and for the most part, we are able to pick and choose the emotions we most gravitate toward. Whether you experience feelings of happiness, excitement, or anything else that has you vibrating and attracting people to your energy or are simply in a slump, only one of these attitudes seem to be inevitable. (The saying goes, "happiness is a choice," right?)
But are we supposed to acknowledge the emotions that are less favorable? Personally, I can ignore everything until it subsides because emotions do fade, yet something that a friend told me the other day made me reconsider think this tactic.
She said, "I've been your best friend for five years, and I've never seen you cry. I swear you're like a robot."
I thought it was a compliment of some sorts until she finished her sentence. If you are able to relate, I'm not someone who so readily places her emotions on display for everyone. However, this was not a random person that made this comment, this was my best friend. The girl that I've loved since the beginning of high school and now into college.
We are often taught from a young age that the truth, or "keeping it real" as many may call it, is supposed to come before the emotions you are experiencing. We may have even been taught to rationalize to the point of no longer validating our emotions. In an effort to avoid and mask the sentiments that are causing any various levels of inner tension, we employ all types of different strategies to dim down the volume of everything we're feeling.
It can become an easy decision to nudge any negative feelings onto the backburner. Who wants to be the person that glides around with a negative cloud hanging over their head? Who wants to risk becoming "the buzzkill"?
Nevertheless, placing the expectations on ourselves that we aren't allowed to feel is ridiculous and self-neglecting. We are better, stronger, and less sensitive to everything else going on around us for only so long. Honestly, I am definitely a believer in the mentality that we are better, stronger, and less sensitive to everything else going on around us. I always tell myself that everything passes and that there are a million and one reasons to be happy in comparison to the other cases that can cause an upset.
Yet, that mentality only holds true for so long. We've probably all encountered the awkwardness that follows after all of those "irrelevant" emotions surface due to believing that we're so oblivious to everything.
Just acknowledge what you're going through, on a more personal level. I'm not saying that you should go off and rant about everything you've been through in life on a Facebook or Instagram post, or go in search of those who will grant you loads of pity, or even go and get all upset over things that have happened beforehand. Being emotional for a little while doesn't have to be synonymous with being weak, either. Give yourself that break by saying, "Hey, I'm feeling this." Or, just go ahead and feel instead.
We owe ourselves the benefit of acknowledging our sensitivities. The emotions that come afterward may just have you feeling ten times better. Respecting our own feelings is something we should do the same way we force ourselves to rationalize a situation or be logical, too. Not for anyone else, but just for ourselves.
