🥹 TREE 584: My emotions are bigger than reality

I have big emotions. I lost my temper all the time as a little kid. I cried my way through puberty. I once cut myself off from a certain type of media for six months because the idiocy I perceived made me so angry. I’ve assigned evil intentions to more people than I would ever care to admit. I cry during most episodes of Call the Midwife. Music makes me FEEL.

Now that I’m ancient (49), I’ve learned that what I am is a drama queen. I’m fine with that because some big feelings are wonderful. And other feelings – well, I’m learning how to work with who I am.

I know that my emotional response to lots of things will be out of proportion to the reality that triggers them.

I know that my initial judgement will often be inaccurate because my feelings are blurring my vision.

I know that I need to slow down and let my emotions happen in a way that doesn’t hurt other people.

I’m definitely not 100% on the application of my knowledge. I’m making progress though.

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Emotions are chemicals doing things in your body. Observe your emotions. Ask what they are telling you. If you don’t stoke them up, the effect of the chemicals will fade after 10 minutes or so. No one ever cries until they are completely desiccated. No one literally explodes from anger. Emotions subside. If you can hold off on sending that email or making that purchase or whatever rash thing you feel compelled to do, you’ll be able to look at your reality with a clearer, wiser head.

I love this song. It always makes me cry. I cried when I watched the video while writing this post. I don’t know why.

Keep growing slowly every day
Jeff