Help! To Suppress My Emotions!

We, as people, are very relationship-driven. We were made that way. The Bible often speaks of how we are to have relationships with each other, with our spouses, with our friends, and, most importantly, with God. Relationships are the bridges that assist us to another location or the gaps that sometimes we fall in. 

Relationships in your past can serve as building blocks for your future or can be enemies to your present. And your suppressed emotions are sometimes because of issues that have occurred because of past relationships. Emotional suppression is when you automatically go into a physiological state of shock and block all the sensations and feelings until you inadvertently numb your conscious. Now, for a severe traumatic injury, this may serve as a good thing. That numbness will allow for your body to go into recovery. However, emotional suppression will do more harm than good. It’s like having termites eating away at the foundation of your house while you blissfully decorate the inside with expensive furniture and refurbish the outside with fresh paint and new roof shingles. Soon enough, your house will cave because of the damaged foundation.

As children, we learn that it rarely helps to vent your frustration and your rage no matter how the parent or the authority figure has wronged you. In fact, if you were to express those anger issues, then it may make the situation much worse. We learn that crying does not always help – especially when you find someone that will not offer you a shoulder to cry on because they are not too keen on your tears. As young adults, we are taught to be mature and told to grow up. Your frustrations and questions are masked by a part-time job, unadulterated parties, make-up, clothes and an identity that you will probably regret in the years to come. We become internally cold adults without real answers because in the time that was allotted to us to ask questions, we were quiet because the world taught us to be that way. We try to hide our sin and cover it so everyone will think we're without fault. We learn quickly that the best way to get out of a situation is to blame someone else or act as if it doesn't exist. Adam did this in Genesis when he blamed God for giving him Eve. We oftentimes play the blame game or we act as if our sin doesn't exist. We, like Adam and Even, grab fig leaves to cover ourselves up.

I am sure that if you searched deep and hard enough, you will find unanswered questions and unresolved issues deeply lodged in the center of your mind. Mostly, we suppress emotions as a way to avoid expressing them. In fact, in order for a society to run effectively, everyone must learn to control his or her emotional energies or we would live in utter chaos. Nonetheless, we all have emotions that we want to express. Over a period of time, too much emotional suppression can cause damage to your body and your mind. It is as if you are placing your hands around your own neck and choking yourself slowly. Therefore, it is important that we understand the danger of emotional suppression. When we suppress our emotions, they don’t go away. Instead, they sink deeper. Instead of resolving the issue, we act as if they are not there.

I could go on and on about the issue, but I will spare you. This is incredibly important to me because I, like most people in this world, suffer from emotional suppression. This is a deadly and very serious condition. Now, evaluate your life to see what have you not expressed, what are you trying to hide, and/or what are you not willing to confront.