Feeling our feelings and being vulnerable with others takes a lot of practice and great courage

Many of us with an addiction, emotional trauma, or a mental illness are afraid to let ourselves feel our emotions. Much less express them or share them with others.

This fear is fueled by a culture that teaches us that we have to be constantly “tough” and “on guard.”

Since many of us lack the skill set to self-sooth or connect with trusted people in a healthy way, we turn to numbing; self-medicating; ruminating; gambling; sex; food; stuffing our emotions until they become depression, rage, or the like; self-harm, and more.

Feeling our feelings and being vulnerable with others takes a lot of practice and great courage.

Brené Brown included this Teddy Roosevelt quote in her book, Daring Greatly:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”