As human beings we get the privilege of experiencing a plethora of complex emotions, including ones that may not feel so pleasant. Although many people have developed a tendency to suppress and hide uncomfortable emotions, robbing yourself from expressing your emotions can impact your mental health in the long run.
Emotional vulnerability involves the process of acknowledging your feelings and allowing yourself to surrender to the full spectrum of emotions, especially those that may feel more uncomfortable or painful. Practicing emotional vulnerability often begins with acknowledging your emotions, then if necessary, sharing your emotions with loved ones, romantic partners, coworkers, friends, or other members of your trusted community. This practice can significantly impact your emotional and mental well-being, therefore here are a few benefits to practicing emotional vulnerability.
1. Vulnerability Builds Empathy
Being able to recognize your own feelings can help you better understand the feelings of others. To empathize means to understand, deeply resonate with, and experience the emotions of another human being as your own.
2. Vulnerability Improves Self-awareness
Self-awareness is essential in identifying patterns in how you think and feel. By acknowledging your emotions you begin to recognize how certain situations or events make you feel, you become attuned to your defense mechanisms and emotional blind spots, which can help you better understand your personal history.
3. Vulnerability Can Ease Anxiety
Neglecting or suppressing negative thoughts can have an impact on your mental and emotional health. According to Arasteh Gatchpazian, a writer at the Berkeley Well-Being Institute, “many people who suffer from chronic anxiety have the belief that feeling bad is harmful, and that negative emotions are to be feared”. However, acknowledging your emotions sends a different message to your brain, you prove to yourself that you are allowed to experience negative emotions and that you will survive, which can reduce overall anxiety.
4. Vulnerability Opens Up Space For Gratitude
In Dr. Brené Brown’s work on vulnerability, she focuses on people who she describes as wholehearted, people who love with their whole hearts, without any conditions. By being truly vulnerable, accepting that we might get hurt and still have the courage to show up and be seen, we allow ourselves to become filled with a growing sense of gratitude and joy.
5. Vulnerability Strengthens and Builds Relationships
Many of the strongest relationships come from embracing genuine vulnerability, whether that looks like showing empathy for others, sharing intimate information or feelings with someone you trust, or simply expressing your wants and needs. Recognizing your own emotions and sharing them with others can help deepen intimacy and build trust in relationships. Emotional vulnerability becomes a gateway to deeper and meaningful connections.
Harnessing the power of vulnerability allows you to gain a sense of confidence in saying what you want and need, a sense of security in expressing your emotions, and a sense of joy and belonging. However, if you find you have a hard time with being vulnerable, speaking with a clinician at An Elegant Mind Counselling can help you awaken to your true and whole self, as we guide you through emotional vulnerability.