FOR THE LOVE OF ART AND CREATIVITY: August 2015

Survivors Don’t Bottle Things Up If They Want To Live When people think of strength and grace under pressure, the image of the “strong, silent type” comes to mind. You know, the idea that really tough people can simply compartmentalize their lives and not let anything bother them, and that equates to being strong.

But that’s just not how it works. Bottling up your feelings and telling yourself you’ll just manage through them is a sure way to harden your heart and become less sensitive to the things that will give you a healthy ability to actually enjoy your life. I know, I spent a decade doing exactly that. I pretended that huge problems didn’t exist and that I could just “man up” and move on.

And I did move on … I just didn’t enjoy it. I became more closed in and unable to really connect with people. I finally had to go to counseling in college just to start unloading my stuff (because I was too afraid to be vulnerable in front of people I actually knew). Fortunately, the counselor was a good one, and helped me unpack some of the baggage I was carrying so I could move on.

Looking back, I wish I’d kept up with the counseling because I could have avoided a batch of rough spots I hit in the future.

Vulnerability Helps You Unpack Your Baggage The power of being vulnerable in front of of someone else you can trust comes from being open to the possibility that you can deal with your situation in a healthy way rather than just stewing in it. When you can open up to someone, you stop hiding behind “it’s okay” and “I’ll deal with it” and you really lay everything out in the open. And once everything’s out in the open, the whole power dynamic changes.

First off, you get a sense of relief from finally getting the words out of your head and out in front of someone. You don’t feel like you’re hiding your pain or pretending it doesn’t exist and though you may still feel helpless to deal with it, at least it’s uncoiling from your mind a little bit. This relief in itself can be palpable and liberating.

But more than that, when you really explain your pain to someone else, you get a more objective view of it. As the words come out of your mouth they have to be challenged by your “reality filter” (that part of you that realizes things don’t make as much sense when you actually say them out loud), and you realize that you’ve been giving certain things too much power.

As in you’ve been thinking something is hopeless when in reality, you know there’s hope. Or you think something is “impossible” when in reality, it’s just difficult, inconvenient and uncomfortable. Or when you think you have no choices when the truth of the matter is that you have plenty of them. It’s astounding how many problems we think are unbearable sound different simply by verbalizing them to another person.

And then dealing with them becomes something possible (I didn’t say easy, though) rather than impossible. And that feels good.

Vulnerability Gives You New Allies The greater power of vulnerability is that you gain allies, people who can look at your issues from an objective standpoint and offer you meaningful advice and support. If you can find people like this in your everyday life, it’s incredibly powerful to develop a meaningful relationship with them and to quit pretending “everything’s okay.” Pretending doesn’t make you a survivor, it makes you a stony husk of a person. And that doesn’t feel good at all.

But what if you don’t have anyone at all you can talk to? Then you were born at the right time, my friend, because the Internet is looking out for you. Regardless of what your issues is, it’s highly likely that there are at least a few online communities focused on gathering survivors together and supporting them. All you have to do is type your problem and the word “forum” or “group” or “discussion board” after it, and you’ll find a group of people you can be vulnerable to.

Does the thought of that scare the hell out of you? Then just create an anonymous online profile at these groups and nobody ever has to know who you are. Bare your (safely anonymous) soul and get the things out that have been weighing you down all these years. And ignore the random “haters” who will leave mean messages as a reply – they will be far outnumbered by good people who want to help you. Thanks to the internet, there’s no reason at all you can’t get the targeted, personal help you need. I only wish this had been around sooner.

Share Your Allies (Please) I know a lot of readers may be interested in the anonymous option, so if you know of a resource, forum, discussion group, or whatever that can help people, please leave a comment about it so others can find what they need more easily.

And if you just need to get it out, you can do that in the comments, too. Just leave a fake name and email address in the comment section and say that thing that’s been “unsayable” in your own heart. There’s no strength in pretending the problem isn’t there – or isn’t solvable. Get it out. This is your invitation. Get some relief today.