After years of abusing drugs and alcohol, or struggling with the symptoms of mental health disorders, emotions like sadness can feel new and overwhelming. Sadness is what it is. In order to move past sadness, we have to move through sadness.
Make Room For Sadness To Be, Because It Is
Sadness is a natural emotion we all experience because we are healthy human beings. Only people with severe psychiatric disorders are constitutionally incapable of feeling sadness or connecting to it. For everyone else, sadness is something we experience on different levels. Sadness can come from grief, loss, acceptance, empathy, and even compassion. We cannot deny sadness no matter how we try. Sadness is often a healing emotion which allows us to understand the difficulties in life.
Let Sadness Be, Because It Is
Trying to change or deny our sadness is harmful to our self-esteem and emotional wellbeing. When we try to shame or guilt ourselves out of feeling an emotion we send yourself negative messages. Instead of allowing ourselves to authentically experience our emotions and process them in a healthy way, we tell ourselves it isn’t okay to feel sad, we shouldn’t be feeling sad, there is something wrong with us for being sad- all of which translate to you’re not good enough and you’re not okay. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to feel sadness. You can still be yourself while you experience sadness.
Identify Sadness In Your Body, Because It’s There
Our emotions aren’t just invisible chemical processes in our minds. Emotions are energy which flow through the body. Trying to stop ourselves from feeling stops the natural flow of energy which can cause us even more emotional pain or cause physical illness. Identifying where sadness lives in your body can help you use holistic healing methods to release that energy. Releasing the physical energy of sadness can help you release the emotional energy.
Give Yourself Time, Because You Deserve It
We are so quick to judge ourselves for being sad. We think we shouldn’t be sad, so we criticize ourselves and push ourselves to “get over it” as quickly as possible. Grief is a process. Loss is a process. Sadness is a process. As we learn in recovery, we can only change one day at a time. Give yourself the patience, empathy, kindness, and compassion you would show to a friend.
Avalon By The Sea promises trusted treatment with trusted results. Home to two primary care facilities for substance use disorders and mental health disorders, Avalon provides exceptional residential treatment for healing mind, body, and spirit. For a confidential assessment and more information on our programs, call us today at 1 888-958-7511.
