Quote:
Originally Posted by SarahSweden
I was surprised how much I recognize myself in how you describe this "robot like" way of being, acting in a superficial way, acting nice and polite and having a hard time being true to oneself. Itīs exactly how I often feel!
I think about that quite often, that people perhaps see me like a "professor" or someone intelligent but I wonder if they get something more out of me. I think about this and get afraid itīs something wrong with me that canīt be fixed. For how long have you worked on this in therapy?
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There's nothing "wrong" with you, Sarah!
My guess is (from my own experience) that somewhere along the way you started to rely more on your intellect than on your emotions and intuitions. For me this was due to a variety of factors - being able to connect dots easily (on a rational level), getting lots of recognition for being "smart" (in school etc.), having parents who struggle with emotions themselves and tend to rationalize everything (so they couldn't really teach me about my emotions and how to handle them), and, being in fact way more emotional than I would have given myself credit for.
But what I learnt from my parents was: emotions are "bad". And because I'm a quick learner I learnt really easily how to keep my emotions out. And because I'm a bit of a perfectionist, I put my energies into perfecting this "robot-mode".
For the last ~ 6/7 years I've been on this expedition to discover my emotional landscapes. The starting point was a complete break down at work due to feeling overburdened and being unable to say no to the unreasonable demands from my boss. (So this is where being what you feel others are expecting of you might ultimately lead you to...)
I realized I needed help and found a therapist. Because I was a breaking point anyway, I didn't care about hiding my emotions any longer, in fact I couldn't do this any longer, everything started to come to the surface. Leaving me totally confused. I had to start with the basics, with lots of support from my therapist. Learning how to feel. What those emotions are called. Where and how I feel them in my body. Quite often my T would notice an emotional shift before I would. Because I was so good at hiding those emotions from myself.
Talking about those emotions still is difficult. My T tends to call me out whenever I shift too much into rationalizing and keeps insisting: I want to know how you
feel and not what you
think.
Finding the connections to my emotional side was/is complicated and difficult. It creates a lot of panic and anxiety. Because those emotions quite often contrast my "robot-mode" which is being as agreeable and nice as possible. But I also find that those emotions are quite helpful. That they function as some sort of inner compass. That they bring back energy and vitality - which was missing for me for a long, long time. That they help me to find connections with people around me.
I'm still quite a rational person, analyzing quite a lot. The difference now is that I'm aware of my emotional side as well, that I don't automatically discard my emotions but integrate them into the equation...