Emotional shedding is the organic process through which our emotional body lets go of repressed emotions.
There are times when things are ok and we are able to slow down. And then all of a sudden, we seem to become very sensitive and emotional without any apparent reason. When we allow ourselves to feel our feelings, to grieve, cry or release our emotions, we often feel relieved, our breath deepens naturally and we feel lighter. I call this emotional shedding- which means that we are finally able to let go of something that was not previously allotted the processing time and attention and needed.
An example of emotional shedding that many can relate to is getting sick as soon as we take a vacation. Many find it frustrating that when we finally take that vacation we’ve been postponing for years, we end up getting sick as soon as we arrive at the destination. It’s as if the stress that has been accumulating in our body is finally ready to come out and it’s showing up as sickness.
Emotions operate in a similar way as stress does. We walk around with a lot of unfelt grief or sadness. In the aftermath of a severe loss, we are often in survival mode. We may suffer a big loss and feel forced to tend to the repercussions of the loss: a funeral, medical bills, homelessness…we don’t have time to allow ourselves to open up and feel our pain right away. This goes for the smaller losses as well, especially for those of us who are addicted to being “busy”. When we don’t make a habit of “emotional house-cleaning” we accumulate this emotional “dirt” in the unswept corners of our hearts. When we slow down we start feeling these older pains we’ve carried, often without even knowing it.
A metaphor for Emotional Shedding
Imagine you are being chased by the tiger in the forest so you run like hell, you scrape yourself on branches, you hurt yourself jumping over rocks and you finally get to your protective cave and find safety. As you get a chance to stop and catch your breath you finally discover all the hurts you acquired while you were running. You begin to feel the pain of the scrapes and bruises you accumulated in the process.
Different people have different ways of letting go– some are able to feel their sadness and hurt right away. Others power through it, get done what they need to do, and then crash once they get at a place of safety. Personally, I have noticed that if I don’t mind my wounds they end up minding me. If I don’t take time to tend to my emotional pain my self-healing heart turns on and surprises me with grief at times when I least expect it. How about you? Have you been surprised by bouts of sadness or sensitivity that are seemingly out of the blue? How do you take care of yourself when you are emotional shedding? Feel free to share below and make sure to be patient, loving, and kind when you notice yourself emotionally shedding.
Diana Deaver is an emotional health life coach practicing since 2015. Her work is based on Jungian and archetypal psychology and it strongly takes into consideration the unconscious. Her emotional healing work encourages a process of gradual integration of all aspects of the person. She offers one on one life coaching sessions via phone, zoom or Facebook messenger. Email her at sessionswithdiana@gmail.com to schedule your session centered on you and your emotional healing.