Managing Your Emotions vs Suppressing Your Emotions
The other day when I was talking to a friend, I told them that while they are grieving - to try not to suppress emotions while they're learning to manage them. They said they didn't understand the difference.
Suppressing your emotions means to dismiss them. Let's say you're feeling angry about a circumstance. Instead of healthily expressing them, you control them to such an extent that it hurts you. You don't allow a space or an outlet. Instead of witnessing the changes the emotion brings out in you, you unify with it. It is possible that this state of mind also causes one to project their narratives onto others.
Suppressing your emotions festers and stagnates the energy in your body. Over time it becomes a space of trigger and reactive responses. If you don't address these emotions, at some point these might lead to outbursts - leading to mental health deterioration and disconnection in important human relationships.
Managing your emotions means that you first give them space - and notice them. You create a separation between you and the emotion. You notice the sensations that come up in your body because of the said emotion. And instead of projecting, you first take your time to process the emotion at your own pace and rhythm. And once you are emotionally stable - you can express it in the best way possible.
When you learn to manage your emotions, you learn to intentionally channel them. This skill becomes a seat of conscious creation. It allows space to take a step back and practise pause. This makes way for clear thinking and to prioritize the next course of action.
