Eating, playing video games as the only way to escape or even project our mood on others ... These are strategies we often use to escape from reality.
Last update: July 26, 2022
People have a habit of avoiding their emotions in many ways. So much so that we could say that we are real jugglers when it comes to repressing, hiding or moving the emotion felt.
Our life is too complex and often painful. If there is something we crave, it is to detach ourselves from suffering through a rewarding practice that makes us forget everything. And there the problem begins.
By detaching ourselves from our emotional experiences, we strengthen the silent foundations of anxiety and depression. Not thinking so as not to suffer doesn't work. The idea of ​​distracting the mind in order to escape from what hurts, disturbs and dulls the calm is an inexact formula.
Pushing feelings down, like someone trying to sink something annoying, involves drowning little by little. Remember that mental health largely depends on the ability to manage, accept, and regulate emotions.
It is not an easy task, it is true. Not everyone knows how to do it, nobody taught us and there are many factors that mediate or hinder this task. Don't hesitate to ask for expert help then.
Compulsive eating is a form of emotional catharsis that reveals the mismanagement of worries, fears, anxieties.
Ways in which you try to avoid your emotions
Research work conducted at Columbia University reminds us that one proper emotional management is the key to our adaptation. This psychological profession is complex because it involves the activation of sophisticated cognitive processes.
An example is paying attention, choosing some thoughts over others, knowing how to interpret negative emotional stimuli, etc.
It is very clear: regulating what we feel is not an easy task, so the most trivial option is to dissociate ourselves from these psychophysiological states. How?
In fact, people they avoid their emotions in such sophisticated and devious ways to be even surprised. THE
1. Sleep, comfort under the sheets
Sherlock Holmes states in one of his adventures that the solution to all problems is sleep. It is true that a good rest clears the mind and makes us restart physically and psychologically, but be careful.
There are those who seek the refuge of the sheets and sleep to escape, don't face reality. We also remember that sleeping more than 8-9 hours is unhealthy and causes metabolic imbalances.
2. Hyperactivity and multitasking as an escape mechanism
There are those who can sleep up to 15 hours a day, while others avoid rest at all costs. Doing as many things as possible is another mechanism for avoiding one's emotions.
Do not leave room for the mind, do not allow a crack to form through which the echo of those complicated feelings that need to be healed emerge.
An example of this is always dedicating yourself to work, doing as many hours as possible, and then occupying your free time with any other activity so that you return home tired enough to go to bed instantly.
3. Food, emotional flight mechanism
One of the most common ways to avoid your emotions is to "eat them". If things go wrong at work or with your partner, emptying the fridge is more rewarding.
Because believe it or not, the disappointment, anxiety, worry, anguish and even shame are channeled through compulsive eating.
A research work conducted at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has come to the conclusion that most of the eating disorders have this origin.
4. Blame others for avoiding their own emotions
There are people who project their discomforts and frustrations onto others, reflecting the guilt, fear, anger and of course the bad mood on others.
This is another recurring mechanism in which you are unable to make contact with your inner universe and, instead, the negative emotional charge spreads wherever you go.
5. Video games, spend all day in front of a screen to escape
Video games are a danger in the presence of a potential addiction or when they are used as a constant resource to escape from reality.
In this case, some people avoid their emotions by immersing themselves in those parallel worlds for hours, neglecting everything else. These virtual universes are cathartic, isolate from reality and completely disconnect from the real world.
6. Turn to others so as not to think about yourself
Focus on the children, partner, family or anyone who needs something from us. Turning eyes, heart and all willpower towards others is a way to distract the mind, completely neglecting authentic needs. This is certainly another very common strategy for avoiding your emotions.
7. Postponed and unproductive boredom to avoid one's emotions
There is no laziness or irresponsibility behind procrastination. What it is observed in many cases is insecurity, low self-esteem, fear and a range of emotions that have not been accepted or regulated.
When we perceive that we have ended up in the prison of procrastination, we are able to make contact with those inner realities that require our attention.
8. Audiovisual evasion and standard consumption
Standard marathons go beyond just entertainment after a long day. In many cases they are that refuge where the mind rests.
With each episode we turn off our worries to turn on alternative stories that lead us to other realities; away from ours.
9. Avoid your emotions by pushing your body to the limit
Running until you are out of breath; spend hours in the gym taking your strength to the limit; playing sports at home until you feel every fiber in your body hurt.
That's right, focusing on the body and exercise in an almost obsessive way is another strategy to escape from their emotions.
Conclusions
There may be multiple escape routes for not accepting or regulating anxieties, fears, anxieties and frustrations. Alcohol or the use of other substances are examples.
However, with this list we draw a clear picture of the most common strategies for avoiding one's emotions. Let's not run away from what hurts us, rather let's try to understand it.
