3 Steps To Practice Feeling Your Feelings A Reconnect With Yourself

If you're feeling disconnected or in a bit of a funk lately, I want to share some truth that might help bring this into perspective.

Feeling my emotions used to scare the shit out of me (sometimes it still does). 

Instead of feeling my feelings, I would rush to a familiar habit. Binge. Drink. Punish myself with exercise. Smoke. Shop. Gossip. Throw up. Restrict. Numb out with TV. Go down internet rabbit holes. Overcompensate. People-please. Work. Lose myself in books.

I felt like I was in a constant state of feeling disconnected- like something was off in my life.

I'd become so used to avoiding my emotions by distracting myself, that I didn't realize that I was really afraid of feeling the pain or discomfort of an uncomfortable feeling.

Which makes sense. As humans, we're primally wired to avoid pain.

But very often we confuse levels of discomfort which creates distrust of our own body (physically, mentally & emotionally). 

A few years ago simply “being” rather than “doing” was a foreign concept. 

Doing was safer. Doing meant I could check the boxes. I could stay in the black & white rather than the nebulous shade of grey. Doing gave me permission to focus on things outside of myself, even at the expense of my body.

Today, I still have to remind myself that emotional regulation is a skill that I'm continuing to build and that I can in fact sit with difficult emotions. And just naming this has given me permission to feel more at peace in the ways that I was always searching for without even knowing. 

THAT'S EMPOWERING. 

If “being” with your own emotions feels hard or like a waste of time, I want to first let you know that you're not alone. I get it and I see you. 

And I want to encourage you that you are WORTHY of feeling your feelings without judgment, shame, blame, or rushing to get out of them. 

Take a moment to check in right now:

• How are you feeling? 

• Where can you locate the feeling in your body?

• What do you need?

****A little side note for the practice of feeling: Healthy distraction is a great tool. The difference is distracting in a mindful way- after acknowledging the emotion, sit in it to see how it feels, and then choose to move away from it and with a tool that will serve vs. sabotage. (this really does take practice).  

When we normalize the human experience of feeling & embrace the journey of self-acceptance we all grow.

Here's to a new level of self-compassion, curiosity, and radical fulfillment in your life through feeling more this week + beyond! 

P.S. If you want even more resources and ideas for reconnecting to yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally be sure to download my free Body Acceptance Starter Kit!