Hey beautiful,
Have you lately found yourself overreacting to situations or feeling unusually tired?
Have you googled how to release stress and tension from your body?
Have you noticed yourself losing interested in things that you previously used to enjoy?
If you answered yes to any of these, chances are you’re feeling emotionally drained, emotionally exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed. And you might be in need of an emotional detox.
What is an Emotional Detox?
What comes to mind when you think of a detox?
If you google how to detox you will find hundreds of websites, articles and books outlining countless of ways to cleanse and remove toxins from the body. The majority of them will focus on detoxing the physical body through a specific diet, water, fasting and a specific exercise regimen.
It’s not only our physical bodies that need to be cleansed of the daily toxins and impurities we come in contact with - our minds need a detox from negative emotions, too! Just like a green juice or food detox, an emotional detox leaves you feeling energized, clear in your mind and fulfilled. An emotional detox comes in handy especially after a major life change like a break-up or when life has felt a little extra stressful and you’ve been put under pressure for a longer period of time.
The purpose of an emotional detox is not to completely get rid of negative emotions, heck is that even possible!? Our emotions are a part of the human experience, both the positive and what we classify as negative emotions. The aim is rather to clear out stuck and unresolved emotions - the ones that no longer serve us and to clear out the past so that it no longer affects our present life. The goal of an emotional detox is to become aware of your emotions, become conscious of your emotional triggers and to process stacked emotions and get rid of built up feelings of guilt, shame, pain, sadness, stress, jealousy and hurt.
You’re a human being so it’s beautiful to have emotions!
Every time we experience trauma or we suppress our emotions, they become stored in our muscle memory and imprinted onto our nervous system. And unless we process them and deal with them, they can eventually manifest into physical illnesses. Unfortunately most of us haven’t learnt how to deal with negative emotions as they arise, and so we have a tendency to try to avoid them and repress them. Some even turn to substances like alcohol or distractions such as binge watching TV or overeating as a way to try to push away the negative feelings. When your system gets clogged up with all the junk you can start experiencing many health issues. Our mind knows how dangerous it is to keep these unprocessed emotions inside the body and it is constantly on the lookout for an opportunity to get rid of the emotions. However, the times when our mind goes let's finally release this anger now, are oftentimes the worst timing for us. The emotions that we suppress get stacked onto each other until we physically cannot contain them anymore. That’s when years’ or decades’ worth of accumulated and repressed junk suddenly bursts out, all at once, and what seems to be a small meaningless event gets thrown out of context and snowballs into a huge experience. These bottled up emotions are what causes us to overreact and quickly lose our temper.
An emotional detox will help you process your negative emotions so that next time you experience a particular emotion like frustration, you will no longer have the bottle filled with built-up frustration from all the past events where you also felt frustrated ready to be opened up and released. Instead you will be aware of your emotions and be able to respond to the situation at hand, instead of reacting to it. You will see the situation for what it is rather than letting your past experiences interfere.
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Signs You Need an Emotional Detox
The easiest way to tell if you need an emotional detox is to pause for a second and take an honest look into your life, and ask yourself the following questions:
- Have I been feeling off lately or different than normally?
- Does everything feel heavier, more difficult and intense?
- Have I been more irritable lately?
Some signs you need an emotional detox include:
- Feeling tired
- Feeling unusually moody
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Overreacting to situations
- Dwelling on the past
- Loss of interest in things you once used to enjoy
- Difficulty sleeping
- Lack of motivation
- Crying over small things that previously didn’t use to bother you
- Wanting to withdraw from your loved ones
- Easily distracted
- Constantly comparing yourself to others and feeling imposter syndrome, like you're not good enough
- Substance abuse
- Emotional eating
- Easily distracted
How to Emotionally Detox
There are many ways to emotionally detox and here are my four favorite ones. Follow your intuition and start with the one that you feel called to do. Remember, emotionally detoxing can feel like a lot of work and feel hard and uncomfortable. Undesirable emotions, trauma and old memories will resurface - they are coming up so that they can be dealt with and healed for good.
- Free yourself from the negative emotions
Become aware of your own emotions and become conscious of the specific situations and people that trigger these feelings within you. You might want to let go of habits and routines that are contributing to unnecessary stress. Sometimes you also need to free yourself from people that are toxic to you and your emotional well-being. Release the negative emotions so that they don’t get the best of you and control your life. Learn the 5 steps to quickly release negative emotions and raise your vibration.
- Forgive yourself and others
Forgiveness means that you consciously choose to free yourself of the negative emotions attached to other people, for the sake of your own well-being. Forgive yourself and others and make peace with your past, so that it doesn’t have any influence over how your future goes. Not forgiving someone means you’re still holding onto painful emotions from the past, and these are causing you more negativity in the present moment. People tend to wish for a healthier and happier life, yet they are very reluctant to forgive the past and let go of toxic emotions attached to holding grudges. Not forgiving the other person is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Holding onto the past is like holding onto a heavy toxic emotional baggage, to which we give a portion of our life energy every day. Read the amazing benefits of forgiveness and learn the most powerful forgiveness practices.
- Up your self-care
We are so busy getting on with our lives that we tend to forget to regularly set time aside for ourselves and attend to our well-being. Just like you fill up your calendar with appointments and meetings with friends, make sure to schedule more time for yourself during the coming weeks. Mark your calendar with me time, and consider doing something you love. You will also notice that by regularly taking time for yourself and setting time aside for relaxation, fun and self-care, you’ll be much better at managing the pressures of your daily life.
Below I listed my favorite things to do, just to give you some ideas:
- going to a spa
- getting a full body massage
- taking a walk out in nature
- going to my favorite coffee shop for breakfast or brunch
- sitting at my favorite spot in nature (on a cliff with sea view), listening to an audiobook or reading a book
- going for a run on the beach
- going for a swim
- Breathwork
Did you know that our bodies release 70% of its toxins through the lungs and through our breath!?
This is why breathwork is so powerful when it comes to detoxing both the mind and the body. Through breathwork you’re giving your body oxygen to such a degree that the toxins are being pushed out from your body through your breath, with the carbon dioxide. Breathwork is a full body detox and it detoxifies each and every cell in your body. Breathwork also stimulates your circulation and boosts your immune system.
Breathwork is an active form of meditation that uses the breath to quiet the mind and release emotional junk from the body, that have caused you to feel drained, tired and have been holding you back in life. Breathwork helps you break free from old habits and self-sabotaging patterns and it has also been studied to be effective in releasing childhood trauma. Breathwork opens your heart and you will feel an increased sense of joy, peace, gratitude and self-love. Breathwork leaves you feeling a ton lighter and it opens you up to all the juiciness that life has to offer.
Breathwork truly is the reset button for your emotions. The Breath Journey will help you do all of this. The Breath Journey allows you to release the emotional junk from your body, such as toxins, stuck and unprocessed emotions and trauma. By letting go of the emotional baggage you’ve been carrying around, you create space for more positive and uplifting emotions such as joy, freedom, peace and love. Finding your inner peace and fulfillment in life is the best gift you can give yourself!
