Feeling our emotions

This has been on my mind a lot lately - and the main part of the topic came from attending a conference last month. During the conference, one of the speakers, Samantha Skelly, talked about how we must feel in to our feelings and stop blocking the feelings away.

This really resonated with me because I am always one to say "I'm good" whether I am in fact good, if I'm great, or if I'm struggling. When I feel the need to cry, I try to hide it, when I feel angry, I hide it and then end up taking it out on someone else. And then I started thinking about my kids.

You guys, I don't know how many times I've told my kids "you're alright", "stop crying", "stop yelling", etc. I straight up tell my kids to stop their emotions just like I stop mine. This is not something that I want them to learn at a young age, so I am doing my best now to allow them to express their feelings (given that it isn't harming anyone else), and encouraging them to talk through how they are feeling and what is going on, as well as what might be able to help them through that feeling.

I'm also an emotional eater - so when I'm feeling emotions, you bet I reach for the junky-ist junk food I can find around me. I've come to notice I also do this with my kids. Oh - you got hurt? Lets get you a piece of candy. Oh, you got shots? Lets stop for some ice cream or a hot chocolate. I don't want them turning to food to cover up their emotions. I want them to feel their emotions and do other activities to get out of the funk. I don't want to raise emotional eaters, because I know what that struggle is like and how hard it is to escape it once the habit is there.

I saw this floating around on social media today, and in my daughters preschool class her teacher discussed emotions and what to do when you are feeling such a strong emotion but don't know how to express it, and I knew that I needed to get some words out about this.

So in the end, I have to remind myself daily that ITS OK TO FEEL. Whatever emotion you are feeling - LET IT OUT. Stop pushing it down with food, or distractions, just allow your self to sit with it, and whatever needs to come out, let it come out. Yell, scream, cry, punch your pillow, go for a walk, take some deep breaths, do whatever feels right for you. I promise you the feeling will pass much faster if you acknowledge it, feel it, and move past it than if you try to shove it away and ignore it.