What are you hiding from?

We spend a lot of our lives hiding from things. Whether it's the unknown, the unfamiliar, or the uncomfortable, we give a lot of our time and energy to mapping out our exit strategy from dealing with our fears.

It could be an exciting job opportunity that is presented to you. It could be the potential of a new relationship. It could be a career change. Or it could be a loss of some kind. Whatever it is, we don't want to deal with it, and we run for our lives. 

When it all comes down to it, the only things we're really hiding from are our feelings. And they're just feelings after all, right? They won't hurt you or kill you. They only have power if YOU choose to give power to them. 

And the feelings we have simply come from the thoughts we think. So if you want to feel something different, start thinking differently. It's as simple as that. Challenge your thoughts. Question your assumptions. Uncover what's really happening (versus what you're telling yourself is happening).

Here's the reason running away from your feelings doesn't work:

1. We often escape by adopting unhealthy behavior/habits, i.e. over-eating, drinking too much, over-medicating, doing drugs, entering into and staying in unhealthy relationships. 

2. The feelings don't go away. They're still there, alive and well, still eagerly waiting to be acknowledged.

When we're growing up and think that monsters are under our beds, it isn't until we actually LOOK under the bed and realize that there is nothing there, that we can move forward. The same goes when it comes to our feelings. They only disappear once we give them a good look - acknowledge them, recognize them and listen to what they're trying to tell us. 

Because, as much as you and I would love for them to just magically disappear, I promise you that they won't. They will simply get louder and more irritating. And as much as you may try to quiet them by hiding behind food, people, alcohol, or all of the above, you won't succeed. 

And going back to one of my first points, they're *just* feelings. And we are not our feelings, nor are we our thoughts. So instead of judging them and resisting them, simply choose to look at them and see what they have to say. It's only when we start running away from them, that we start to harm ourselves. 

 

 

This week's Quarter Life Clarity assignment  

Grab a journal and give yourself fifteen minutes and on the top of the page write, "How am I feeling?" Then start to write. Don't judge. Don't censor. Just release whatever it is that you're holding onto. Let it go.