Don’t fear your emotions
Emotions are our way of expressing ourselves and building relationships with others. We depend on them to enhance our personal lives and communication skills, but what about showing emotions at work? If they’re positive, I’m sure that would not be difficult, but would you feel comfortable exposing your feelings in a public or a professional environment if they were negative?
It may be hard to express feelings such as sadness, frustration, and anger, but the truth is that you shouldn’t be afraid of them. Some may think being emotional in the public eye can be interpreted as a “weakness.” However, I believe your emotions can be one of your strengths, and you should not be intimidated by them.
The more comfortable we get with emotions, the more emotionally empowered we become. Expressing ourselves when we feel doubtful, intimidated, frustrated, or upset is a sign of courage.
Gain power from emotional expression
We’re all human, and each of us will have our ups and downs. We’re prone to mistakes, but we can learn from them.
Opening up to others and voicing your feelings is no easy task, but learning to understand and communicate your thoughts will make you more genuine and authentic. People will only appreciate your honesty and emotional strength when you practice being vulnerable.
Imagine being admired by others because you’re not afraid to show emotions. Rather than being threatened by feelings, use them as your new superpower.
Through my personal and professional experience, I’ve learned many reasons to embrace my emotions. Here are my top three:
1. Emotions are transient; they come and go. They’re an emotional reaction to a thing, person, or event. They’re not good or bad, right or wrong, but one thing is for sure — they provide incredible data. Look for the information your emotions tell you about yourself, others, and the world.
2. Feelings can tell us a lot about people and what is happening underneath the surface. There is a ton of insight gained when we learn to understand our inner iceberg (what’s underneath the surface) — our motivations, stressors, concerns, beliefs, attitudes, etc. It’s important to accept all emotions in the workplace, negative and positive. They’re full of wisdom.
3. Emotions are our universal language. There are a few things in life that all humans have in common, and one of them is the ability to feel. We’ve all experienced the same sentiments at different points in our lives, so we can truly understand one another if we’re open to sharing our emotions. While it’s true people may endure situations differently, the life challenges we face may be very similar.
The truth is that sharing things in common with others bridges the opportunity to build solid relationships and more effective communication skills. I always find it’s easier to feel more comfortable with someone I can relate to, don’t you?
You’ll significantly benefit from practicing more emotional expression in your life. I know that getting comfortable with your feelings and how to express yourself in the presence of others may take time. Still, I can promise you that putting yourself out there will strengthen your likelihood of building deeper, more intimate connections.
I also understand embracing your emotional expression in a work setting isn’t easy. However, it results in employee engagement, enhanced work culture and mutual respect. There are significant benefits to it.
I hope that you take this new perspective on using emotional expression as a tool to become emotionally strong. I can guarantee that if you encourage people around you to be more open about how they truly feel, you will build a tighter community. Learning to master my emotions made me an emotionally strong leader – will you be next?
