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You've Got to Let It Flow Before You Can Let it Go
There are so many deep consequences to repeatedly suppressing our emotions and needs, including a profound disconnection from ourselves. When we don’t metabolize our experiences, it often manifests as illness or pain. The more disconnected we become, the easier it is to miss early warning signs, and the more likely it is that our body will raise the volume on the alarm until we are so sick that we have no choice but to pay attention.
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin
Digestion involves transformation, integration, and elimination. In a fast-paced world where we are often required to multi-task, disregard our own needs, and move on quickly to the next thing, we don't always have the time and space we need to metabolize and integrate. This makes it hard for us to eliminate, or let go of, what isn't for us. It also makes it hard for us to move on from relationships and places that aren't serving us.
Digesting difficult experiences takes time and support, and it is harder to move through the three stages of digestion when we have internal and external pressure to simply let go or move on. We have to be willing and able to feel our feelings and to hold space for the difficult things in order to really move on.