Feeling Your Feelings

The wave of emotions that we are experiencing, even though I don’t want to use this word, is unprecedented.

On a global scale, we are facing the loss of loved ones, the loss of our way of life and the loss of certainty over what our world will look like as we emerge from this crisis.

It happened quickly, we’re still in the midst of loss and we have no idea when or how this will end. While we will all follow a similar trajectory of emotions in our response to what’s happening, we will do so at a different pace, with our own ups and downs along the way.

Denial is a natural first response. We don’t want to believe this is happening and we carry on. This doesn’t work, and deep down, we know that. The pandemic is happening, that’s a fact, so pretending that it isn’t or denying that it will affect us only gives rise to confusion, fear and anxiety. We can see that things in our lives are different, so we have to respect that, tell ourselves the truth and deal with the emotions that come next.

The emotion that bubbles up once we have been honest is usually anger. With anger comes blame, and frustration. These feelings are felt even more intensely at the moment as we’re stuck in situations we can’t get out of. We have to stay at home, our usual healthy coping mechanisms might not be available to us and with that realisation comes the next response; depression.

Depression can set in when we acknowledge that this is real and there’s nothing we can do to change it. Listening to the news; the sadness of the increasing death toll, the predictions about the economy and the uncertainty about how we will return to ‘normal’ is understandably overwhelming. Feeling helpless and hopeless is something we’re not used to. We want to run away, but there’s nowhere to run to.

You’re grieving.

You have lost your way of life.

You were born with an innate desire to find connection and avoid rejection and your natural instincts have been curtailed.

Despite my uncompromising positivity, I know that it’s not always the answer. In order to live positively, we have to allow ourselves to feel our feelings and move through them to a place of acceptance. We can’t plaster positivity on top of crumbling layers of emotion.

I have an ‘easier said than done’ four-step process to help you move through this emotional rollercoaster to a place of calm acceptance and positivity.

1. Feel your feelings.
2. Become curious about your feelings.
3. Explore another way; open your mind to possible solutions.
4. Decide to take action, the first step, towards one of the possible solutions.

We’re all going to look back on this year as a point in history where everything changed. How would you like to look back on those changes? Will you be proud of the decisions you made and the future you created?

In my Change-Makers’ Club, I have everything you need as you begin to acknowledge your emotions. I know that it can be terrifying when you stop and realise the depth of feeling that you have been ignoring, denying and plastering over. You’re not alone. I can help you as you start to uncover those feelings and support you as you move through them.

With the media talking about social isolation, loneliness is being compounded. The word ‘isolation’ leads our mind to believe we are alone, but we’re not; YOU’RE NOT ALONE. We’re connecting differently! We do need to follow the distancing guidelines, of course, but that doesn’t mean we need to be distant. We need to connect as human beings and in my Change-Makers’ Club, we’re in this together; we talk, we laugh and we collaborate. I can’t wait to welcome you in to begin your own journey, as your mentor and guide, beside you as you unapologetically live the life you know you’re meant to be living.

Glyniss x