Have you ever been told "you're being over-emotional"?
Growing up with a Marine Dad and a stoic farm-raised mom, emotions were not appreciated nor welcomed. If I fell down and hurt my arm, my Dad would promptly walk me over to the table saw in the garage and offer to cut it off. So dealing with emotional pain wasn't even a blip on the radar.
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In my 40's, I realized expressing emotions is not a sign of weakness. (Yes, it took awhile!) And more importantly, I recognized that repressing my emotions had led me down a destructive path of unhappy and sometimes toxic relationships. My physical health was deteriorating. And my emotional well-being? It wasn't well at all.
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That was the first step in my emotional awakening journey... Awareness.
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Then came Acceptance. Stripping away the negative self-judgement. No more "I'm so stupid for marrying him" or "What the hell is wrong with me that I can't stand up for myself?". To replace those self-depricating thoughts with compassion for the woman that was doing her best at the time. To know that because of those experiences, not despite them, I'm a happier healthier bolder version of me today.
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The last step = Action! To step into my power by unabashedly embracing my emotional side in conjunction with my bulldozer "get-shit-done" side.
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👉 What do you think? Does showing your emotions make you feel uncomfortable or empowered?