Why Avoiding Problems Harms Your Health
I think a lot of us can identify with avoiding things in life that we know need to be dealt with. Avoiding Problems Harms Your Health.
I don’t mean waiting on something that isn’t urgent or prioritizing tasks based on your circumstances. I mean being aware that there is a problems in your life that requires your attention and refusing to do anything about it. It may be putting off taking your car to the mechanic when it makes that funny noise, or rescheduling a dentist appointment several times until the twinge in your tooth becomes more than you can bear. It’s normal to be afraid to address anxiety-provoking situations, but experience teaches us procrastinating only makes things worse. The same rule applies to how we cope with our emotional issues.
Most of us know when something is haunting us. Maybe we can’t forget an incident from our past or perhaps we are in the middle of a tough situation right now. But whether or not we are willing to take action is a whole other story. Avoiding pain is a common, but ineffective coping mechanism, and it looks different for different people. Some people live in denial and are masters at self-deception. They blame anything except themselves or wear “rose coloured glasses” no matter how bad things are. Many use alcohol, drugs, food, or sex to drown the pain. Other souls put on a brave face and convince themselves that they are just fine. These are often the types who focus on helping other people so they don’t have to work on themselves. Some stay busy constantly and work long hours to take their minds off of their unhappiness. Intellectuals like to depend on cold theory and logic to analyse their problems away. The common denominator in all of these cases is that it doesn’t work. These people are never at peace for long. Sooner or later, those issues you refused to examine will rear their ugly head in the form of illness.
Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches that healthy emotions are a vital part to overall wellness. Feelings are a natural part of life and it is best to let them come and let them go as life unfolds. Acknowledging emotions as they occur and letting them pass just as quickly means we aren’t holding onto anything and therefore can’t be bogged down by “emotional baggage”. When we handle ourselves in this way, unpleasant feelings cannot hurt or scar us. But if we continue to avoid traumas and push down the feelings that accompany the memory, this harms our health significantly. It can manifest as emotional or physical symptoms and often appears as bodily pain.
What I am trying to tell you is facing your fears sets you free. If you have a current concern in your life that needs your attention, do something about it now! Call us on 0406 688 832 or visit our website at releasewellness.com.au and lets start your road to recovery. The longer you let it sit, the harder it is to solve. If you are carrying around old wounds, it is time to mend them. I was watching a movie recently where a woman, who had struggled with demons for years, went back to her childhood home filled with unhappy memories. It was abandoned, a museum to her pain. She stared at it in silence then suddenly started hurling rocks at it. She finally collapsed on the ground, crying. Now we all know the house wasn’t the problem. It was what it represented. And we also know what happened in that house isn’t happening to her now. But she chose to relive her pain because she never coped with it. When we try to escape our problems, we are giving that house power that it has no right to hold over us. The house is just a house, and the memory cannot hurt us unless we allow it. Most of us have a symbolic house in our mind that intimidates us with its pain. It is your job to tear it down.