What makes it difficult to take of ourselves in stressful situations? We know the importance of self-care especially in high-stress times. Why do we self-sabotage?
It’s natural to have emotions such as fear and anger in such a circumstance. There is this invisible threat that is starting to affect our livelihoods, our families and our everyday lives. Maybe you're feeling a generalized anxiety or a feeling like you need to DO something.
It doesn’t feel good. We want relief from these painful emotions and anxiety. We want to DO something instead. We want to distract. We want to feel better. We want something to make us feel better when there’s not much we can do. Or that’s how it may feel at least.
It makes it difficult to sit in meditation for some. Meditation feels pointless- we’d rather be doing something. It’s hard to sit quietly when we feel agitated and anxious. We feel resistance to meditating which might actually increase our anxiety and anger.
Typically, we want to use logic to escape problems. We harness our masculine energy of control, action and doing in an attempt to exert control over our lives which are being acted on by external forces.
Our societal habit of needing to be in control is amplified.
Having an invisible enemy is scary. We want to take control and go fight something.
But the answer is to go within. That’s the opposite of what we are used to doing, it’s the opposite of what is comfortable.
Ultimately, to deal with our anxiety we must look at it and explore it.
What emotions are making up this generalized anxiety for you? What do you feel in your body?
What are you feeling? Anger? Powerlessness? Grief? Fear? And, why?
Anxiety can be a combination of negative feeling emotions that put our body into a fight or flight state. The stress hormone, cortisol, is released. An anxious state is an immune-compromised state.
Take care of yourself by addressing the underlying emotions and processing them. Let them move through you.
Being able to be with your emotions, the ones you’re avoiding, is an important step in finding peace and getting back to love. It will lower anxiety so that you can meditate with more ease. You will make space for the self-care you need by dealing with the energy leaks that are our negative emotions.
We’re learning how to confront uncomfortable feelings. We’re learning how to process negative vibrational states into higher ones like love and peace. We are learning how to surrender and have faith in something bigger than us in this world.
We’re confronting this deep-seated fear that- we are not supported, we are being punished, the world isn’t fair, we have no control and life happens to us.
All of which are very common fears and worries.
Let us ask the questions…Where do they come from, what do they mean and how do they manifest in other areas of my life?
It’s not easy to admit to ourselves that we feel unsupported or that we don’t have the control that we wish we did. Admitting these things is against what the ego wants because it is protecting our vulnerability. Not being in control is scary. Putting faith in something that you can’t see doesn’t seem very safe.
Overall, look at why you have resistance to doing the recommended things to take care of your self?
What are the underlying feelings there?
It will be important to find a way to release them. Some common ways to do that are: journaling, crying, through orgasm, catharsis- punching a pillow/screaming/some high energy activity, talking it out, having a tantrum with yourself or someone you trust.
We’re allowed to have all these emotions. This is hard but we are in this together.