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Encore: How To Feel Your Feelings: A Practical Guide for Beginners
Episode 13022nd July 2026 • Five Year You • Andrew Dewar and Catherine Collins
00:00:00 00:31:19

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If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by your emotions… like you can’t quite name what you’re feeling… like everything is building up inside you—this episode is for you.

Because here’s the truth:

You are not bad at emotions.

And more importantly… feeling your feelings is a skill you can learn.

💭 What This Episode Covers

  • Why emotions can feel confusing or overwhelming
  • How to identify what you’re actually feeling
  • Why naming an emotion can reduce its intensity
  • How to create space for emotions without becoming consumed by them
  • Healthy ways to release pent-up emotional energy
  • Why feeling your feelings supports long-term well-being

🚨 Why Feeling Your Feelings Feels So Hard

  1. You Were Never Taught How
  2. Many of us learned how to solve problems, meet expectations, and keep moving—but not how to sit with sadness, anger, fear, or disappointment.
  3. 👉 Result: Emotions feel like problems to fix instead of experiences to understand.
  4. Your Feelings Seem Too Big
  5. When emotions have been ignored for a long time, they can arrive all at once.
  6. Instead of one clear feeling, you may experience tension, exhaustion, irritability, numbness, or overwhelm.
  7. 👉 Result: You shut down because you don’t know where to begin.
  8. You’re Afraid the Feeling Won’t End
  9. You may worry that allowing yourself to feel sadness will make you sad forever.
  10. Or that acknowledging anger will make you lose control.
  11. But emotions move when they are allowed to be felt.
  12. 👉 Result: Avoiding the feeling often keeps it around longer.
  13. You Judge What You Feel
  14. You may tell yourself:
  15. “I shouldn’t feel this way.”
  16. “Other people have it worse.”
  17. “I need to get over it.”
  18. 👉 Result: You experience the original emotion—and shame for having it.

😞 The Emotional Cost of Avoiding Your Feelings

When you believe your emotions are too much, it creates:

  • Disconnection
  • Numbness
  • Irritability
  • Anxiety
  • Emotional exhaustion

What you don’t allow yourself to feel does not simply disappear.

It may show up in your body, your relationships, your reactions, or your inability to rest.

And the worst part?

👉 The more you avoid your emotions, the harder it becomes to hear what they are trying to tell you.

⚠️ The Hidden Danger

When emotions remain unnamed and unprocessed, they can quietly influence your choices.

Examples:

  • Saying yes when you want to say no
  • Snapping at someone because you haven’t acknowledged your stress
  • Numbing yourself with constant scrolling, food, work, or busyness
  • Staying in situations that repeatedly hurt you
  • Mistaking emotional suppression for strength

👉 Unfelt emotions do not disappear—they often come out sideways.

🔑 The Truth You Need to Hear

Your feelings are not failures.

They are not proof that you are weak, dramatic, or broken.

Emotions are information.

They can show you what matters, what hurts, what needs attention, and where a boundary may be needed.

  • You are allowed to feel without explaining
  • You are allowed to pause
  • You are allowed to need support
  • You are allowed to feel more than one emotion at once

👉 You do not have to fear your feelings in order to move through them.

🔄 What Overwhelm Actually Means

Overwhelm does not always mean something is wrong with you.

It may mean too much has gone unacknowledged.

You may need rest.

You may need space.

You may need to name what you have been carrying.

You may need to let your body complete an emotional response it has been holding onto.

👉 Overwhelm can be an invitation to slow down and listen.

🛠️ How to Shift Out of the “Avoidance” Mindset

  1. Pause and Notice
  2. Before trying to change anything, take a moment to notice what is happening inside you.
  3. Ask yourself:
  4. What sensations do I feel in my body?
  5. Is there tightness, heaviness, heat, pressure, or restlessness?
  6. Start with what you can observe.
  7. Name the Emotion
  8. Move beyond “good,” “bad,” or “stressed.”
  9. Ask:
  10. Am I disappointed?
  11. Lonely?
  12. Embarrassed?
  13. Angry?
  14. Afraid?
  15. Grieving?
  16. Naming the feeling can make it feel more manageable.
  17. Let the Feeling Exist
  18. Try saying:
  19. “This is what I’m feeling right now.”
  20. You do not need to justify it.
  21. You do not need to solve it immediately.
  22. Give yourself permission to experience the emotion without becoming the emotion.
  23. Create a Safe Release
  24. Emotions carry energy, and that energy often needs somewhere to go.
  25. You might:
  • Cry
  • Journal
  • Take a walk
  • Shake out tension
  • Breathe slowly
  • Talk with someone you trust
  1. 👉 The goal is not to force the feeling away—it is to let it move.
  2. Ask What You Need
  3. Once the intensity softens, ask:
  4. What is this feeling trying to show me?
  5. Do I need comfort?
  6. A boundary?
  7. Rest?
  8. Reassurance?
  9. A difficult conversation?
  10. Your emotions may not always give you instructions, but they often offer important information.

💡 Key Takeaway

Feeling your feelings does not mean being controlled by them.

It means noticing what is present, naming it honestly, and allowing it to move through you.

You do not need to master every emotion overnight.

Start small.

Pause.

Notice.

Name.

Allow.

Release.

👉 The more safely you feel your emotions, the less power they need to use to get your attention.

✨ Glimmers from This Episode

  • The relief of finally finding the right word for what you feel
  • A deep breath that helps your body soften
  • The quiet comfort of letting yourself cry
  • Realizing you can feel something deeply without being consumed by it

💬 Final Thought

Your feelings are not here to ruin your day.

They are here to be heard.

You do not have to run from them.

You do not have to fix them.

You only have to meet them with honesty and compassion.

What you are willing to feel, you can begin to heal.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who needs this reminder 💫

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