Feelings come and they go. Sometimes they stay around for a while – whether we want them to or not. But in all of these cases, feelings just…are. They are here, there, and everywhere. Why does this cause discomfort? Why do we blame or shame ourselves for experiencing something so “normal?”

We don’t have to… We can Normalize feelings and emotions.

Normalize means “…to make conform to or reduce to a norm or standard.”

In other words, it can be understood as “normal” to feel feelings. Happy, sad, angry, frustrated, etc. all are part of the human experience. We know it in our own minds, but then many people feel ashamed of these things – or they feel as though they have to hide their feelings. No more.

You are a complete and wonderful human being, and part of that is going through the ups and downs of life. You have learned and grown in so many different ways, but a big part of that includes the days when you felt sad, hopeless, and overwhelmed. You felt those things, and in feeling them, you may have

• (1) reached out to a friend or family member,
• (2) realized your own potential and strength of character, or
• (3) went to seek additional help with understanding these feelings.

Either way, the feelings happened and pushed you to change in a productive way.

We must extend kindness to everyone… including ourselves

Of course, this does not always happen. There are times when the feelings are “too big” to handle right away. Mental illness and disorders are another fact of

life. But these extreme cases are not the whole story. Just because we experience “negative” feelings does not automatically mean they will overwhelm us to the point of making life hard to live.

By normalizing feelings, we acknowledge that life is complicated. There are “good” times and “bad” times – but both exist for all of us. Feelings can be uncomfortable and scary. We should be kind to those who have gone through extreme traumas and situations. So normalizing these experiences allows all of us, as a society, to turn towards our feelings and seek to better understand the different angles of life. By doing this, we can collective build more empathy towards others and let everyone know that it is OKAY to feel.

Wouldn’t that be nice.

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Source:

“Normalize Definition” – https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/normalize#other-words