Don’t rob yourself from feeling your emotions.

I’m not going to lie but the past week I was all over the place. I was exhausted mentally, emotionally, physically. My close friends and family members back in India were going through a rough phase. Some friends lost their family members and others were hospitalized as they were tested positive for Covid.

On the surface level I was doing ok but , honestly I was dragging myself to even do the routine chores. I felt as if everything hit me all together.I experienced so many moments that were both heartbreaking and heartwarming and my heart was just so confused.

I have been suffering from anxiety and emotional binge eating on and off for years now. I am aware of all the things that triggers the emotional binge eating. I also know the coping strategies to handle the anxiety and binge eating. But it is so hard to practice all that in real when you are in the midst of your anxiety episode.

And, what I learned through all these episodes are that more you try to ignore and numb whatever emotions that you are going through, more time it takes to get over it.

I m in the process of accepting this phase of my personality where I use binge eating as a coping mechanism to numb my feelings. I m allowing myself to feel sad, shattered and angry as all these feelings are part of life.

I don’t have to be a perfectionist. I will fail, I will relapse, but I won’t quit, till I get strong enough to acknowledge all that’s happening around me and truly letting myself sit with these feelings.

So if someone reading this is going through difficult time, allow yourself to feel your emotions. Your feelings are as waves in the ocean. They come and go, rise and fall. No feeling lasts forever.

Extend yourself the same kindness that you would to others that you love. Beating yourself up for feeling sad, anxious or scared often serves to make you feel even worse. Instead, be kind and gentle towards yourself and engage in compassionate acts of self-care which can be talking to your friend, taking break from work or sleeping for an extra hour.