How to Embrace All the Emotions in Your Life
“We love all of our girl. Every messy, beautiful, piece of her.” - Joy, Inside Out 2
This voiceover is an audio version of my Slow Sunday Letter below. It is unedited, so may have some stutters, imperfections, and background noise. I hope you enjoy listening to it anyway!
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Welcome back to another Slow Sunday Letter! I hope you have had a slow and gentle week.
Sometimes we all need a little reminder of the good stuff, to appreciate the here and now, to be grateful for all the amazing things we have. But… it is also okay to feel sad, anxious, frustrated, or angry - it is okay to feel all of these emotions. You may be in a season of your life that sees you facing a wide range of emotions, both the good and the harder ones. When you feel sad, tired, anxious or overwhelmed it may feel like a big black cloud is forming over your head, and everything feels that little bit harder.
In this Slow Sunday Letter, I want to remind everyone, it is okay to feel all of your emotions. They all make you, you. And you are wonderful. So grab a cuppa, get cosy and let’s see if we can find the rainbow in the rain …
“I know new emotions can seem unhelpful at first, but I’ve learned that every emotion is a good emotion.” - Joy, Inside Out 2
I recently went to the cinema to see the AMAZING Inside Out 2 . This movie is so incredibly good on so many levels, but particularly in showing us that all our emotions need to take their moment sometimes.
In one scene Sadness takes control in Riley’s mind, in a sad moment Riley starts to cry - Sadness starts to panic that she has done something wrong, but Joy reassures, and explains that, ‘it’s ok we need this’.
Inside Out 2 provides an example of how ‘reframing difficult emotions as tools to use in balance with all your other feelings, will get you a lot further in life than trying to suppress or banish feelings you don't enjoy’ Jessica Stillman (in)c.
It is so hard to explain how it feels to have anxiety ever present in your mind, which is why I loved Inside Out 2’s take on it so much. Anxiety is trying to protect you- looking for any and all possible bad outcomes to either prevent, protect or prepare you for them. It is trying to keep us safe, but it can sometimes try much, much too hard. When I think of my own anxiety like this, it really helps me try and manage it better. Giving it space to be heard… what is it trying to protect me from? Why is it feeling this way? What can I do to encourage calm?
We are human, and part of being human is feeling a wide range of emotions and having tough days, as well as good.
When Joy take’s Sadness down into Riley’s memory pool where her belief’s are formed, Sadness is worried she may ruin or disrupt something. Joy, takes Sadness’ hand and reassures her, ‘Remember Sadness, wherever I go, you go too’. This really stuck out to me, as often I will be afraid of being too happy for fear of sadness following close by. But I realise, this isn’t true. Joy and Sadness don’t follow one another, they travel together - hand in hand. Even on our hardest days, Joy is standing there beside us. And on joyful days, sometimes we will remember someone or something that is missing. We all struggle from time to time, it is important to acknowledge and give space to sadness, anxiety and fear. When we give them some time and a voice - we have an opportunity to ask for help, practice self compassion and grow from there. Remember joy, compassion and love are always standing close by, alongside any sadness, fear or anxiety you may be feeling.
When we say that we are grateful for life, we can’t just be grateful for the joyful moments. We must be grateful for it all, as they all form parts of who we are.
“You can't just bottle us up!” — Joy, Inside Out 2
I have had a brilliant couple of months, my anxiety has been rumbling along in the background as usual, but not rocking the boat too much. I’d been pushing out of my comfort zone more, and had some really lovely, sparkly, wholesome days, where I felt on top of the world.
But, my ‘good day’ winning streak came to an abrupt end, when I woke up feeling really anxious, and a black cloud formed above my head.