Being With Your Feelings
In any relationship, intimacy is the glue that holds everything together and makes the connection deeply rewarding. A crucial component of building this intimacy is being in tune with your emotions—embracing, understanding, and sharing them. It’s a scary thing for many of us but the rewards you will reap are endless. Here’s a closer look at why being present with your feelings can be a game-changer in relationships.
Embrace the Full Spectrum of Emotions
We often shy away from certain emotions, especially the ones that make us feel vulnerable or uncomfortable. However, acknowledging and confronting these feelings is essential when it comes to building intimacy with ourselves and others. When you give yourself permission to experience a wide range of emotions, you're taking a critical step toward self-awareness. This isn't just about knowing your likes and dislikes but also about understanding your emotional triggers and how you react in various situations. When you know how you react you can better mitigate any unwanted consequences. In other words, you feel more in control when it comes to driving your life forward in the direction you want it to go.
The Power of Vulnerability
Brene Brown famously discusses vulnerability as the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. In relationships, this couldn’t be truer. When you openly share your feelings, you are laying down a foundation of trust. You're showing your partner that it’s safe to express themselves too. When two individuals are showing up as they are over and over again it creates a soil ripe for all sorts of beautiful things. Creating emotional safety in relationships is where radical growth begins to happen both individually and as a couple.
From Avoidance to Engagement
Ignoring or suppressing emotions can lead to them manifesting in unhealthy ways, such as cheating, anger, resentment, withdrawal or lashing out in abusive ways. These reactions can be toxic to any relationship. By facing your emotions, you engage in a healthier way of processing. Ways that will bring you the love, acceptance, and joy you crave. Facing feels head-on helps prevent scenarios where bottled-up feelings explode in harmful ways that will destroy a relationship that might have tons of potential! It's about being proactive, self aware, non reactive, and open to learning new healthier ways of processing!
A Cycle of Positive Feedback
Sharing how you feel encourages a similar response from your partner. When your partner sees that you are being vulnerable and open it often (not always) leads them to want to do it too. This cycle of positive feedback can strengthen your relationship tremendously. It allows both partners to continuously feel heard and understood, which is essential for maintaining emotional health and relational stability. Each person in the relationship feels more connected and less alone in their experiences which is one of the reasons we seek partnership in the first place. We want to feel less alone.
Continuous Growth and Connection
Staying connected to your emotions and sharing them with your partner isn’t a one-and-done process. It’s an ongoing process that, when done consistently, can lead to continuous growth and deepening of the relationship. As each partner becomes more attuned to their own and each other's emotional needs, the relationship becomes more supportive, but only because each individual began with vulnerability and self-awareness. We are not mind readers and knowing ourselves leads to knowing others when its accompanied by vulnerability and effective communication.
In conclusion, being true to your feelings and sharing them openly isn’t just about fostering transparency in a relationship. It's about building a foundation where intimacy, support, compassion, and understanding can thrive! This open emotional exchange doesn’t just improve the quality of your relationship—it enhances the quality of your life together and as individuals. So next time you find yourself hesitating to share how you truly feel, remember that your honesty isn't just a gift to yourself but to your relationship as well.
Journal Prompt of The Week:
How do I feel about vulnerability? What is my past and or current experience with it? Am I willing to open up to learn more about myself and others?
I sincerely hope you take the time today and journal about this topic. Journaling is a free, simple, guaranteed way to begin gaining self-awareness and crucial insight into who you are.
If you’d like to schedule time with me to discuss what came up for you during and after journaling you can do so at the link in the comments. It’s a free 15-minute video call. My gift to you for being so brave and willing to do the hard work.