You Are Not A Bottle

If you are anything like me, you don't enjoy feeling painful emotions.

If you are anything like me, you prefer to not feel grief or heartbreak or loss or deep sadness at all.

If you are anything like me, your tendency might be to squish those feelings deep inside you, crammed into a tiny bottle that you cork with a determination to ignore it forever.

From firsthand experience I can tell you:

This is a terrible plan.

Because, inevitably:

It's simply not healthy to shove emotions deep inside a locked cage. The whole "Conceal, don't feel" mentality is not a good idea. Just watch Frozen; you'll see what I'm talking about.

Believe it or not, feelings are meant to be felt.

Okay, all Frozen references aside, though: I'm not saying that it's a good idea to express your pent up anger by punching a no-good prince in the face (okay, that was the last one, I promise). Lashing out or completely dumping your emotions on those around you is just as unhealthy as keeping them all inside.

But give yourself permission to feel what you feel.

It's okay to be upset. It's okay to cry, to scream, to throw things (as long as you don't break anything important/that doesn't belong to you). It's okay to shut yourself in your room with ice cream and a Disney Channel Movie.

Just don't keep that door closed forever.

Take the time you need to let the feelings out. Once they're out, though, don't gather them back in to push them out again and again. Don't stay in sweatpants forever. Find your smile again. Put the cake down. Open the blinds and let that sunshine back into your flushed out soul.

You are not a bottle.

But you are not a fountain either.

Yes, it hurts. Yes, you can let it hurt. But eventually, you need to let it heal.

You are not a bottle.

You are not a fountain.

You are a human being.

Don't hole up your emotions.

Let them go.

And then, when you've let your pain or sadness or frustration run its course,

let it go.