Building a Bullet Proof Mindset Part 5

In last week’s edition of the Survivor to Thriver Newsletter, I discussed principle four of six (self-awareness, ownership, consistency, gratitude, catharsis, and challenge), Gratitude.

In this week’s article, I’m going to discuss Catharsis.

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably asking yourself, “what the hell is Catharsis?” 

If not, good for you, you’re a lot smarter than me!

Catharsis is the fancy way of saying “relieving suppressed emotions.” That’s it.

Why did I choose this word? 

Because it sounds powerful. 

So, Catharsis or the relieving of suppressed emotions can be done in different ways. 

It comes in the form of journaling, talking with someone, recording yourself talking, etc. 

I truly believe that when we experience a traumatic event, we must express those emotions. 

After my sexual abuse, I didn’t say anything for three years. 

I had forgotten it even happened, but it continued to build up inside of me.

This is how good our minds are at trying to protect us from these horrific experiences.

When we hold in these toxic emotions, I believe they get stored in our soul. 

Our soul is pure. 

Our soul is not meant to store toxic emotions like fear, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, shame, guilt, etc. 

The longer we wait to release these suppressed emotions, the deeper they get stored in our soul. 

They become toxic to our being. They start to eat away at our soul. 

This toxicity comes out in different ways. 

For me it came out as anger, depression, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, recklessness, and even drinking.

We must express these emotions. We must get them out and start cleansing our soul. 

When we do this, we feel a heaviness lift from us. We feel freer.

As I mentioned in a previous paragraph, you can express these suppressed emotions in many ways. 

You have to find out which one(s) work best for you. 

When you start addressing your trauma, expressing what happened to you, you are going to feel weird. 

It will feel foreign to you and you won’t like it.

You’re going to want to stop and go back into hiding. You’re going to want to go back to comfort.

This is natural especially if you’ve been holding onto these emotions for a long time.

This is what happened to me for years. 

I would find something that worked for me, try it for a few days, it would feel foreign to me, I didn’t like it, and then I would go back to my old ways.

The old ways were comfortable to me even if they were destroying my life. 

The only way to get through the feelings of insecurity and fear is to stay consistent. 

Expect that you’ll encounter these unfamiliar feelings and keep pushing forward.

Start small. 

Write a few sentences about your past, how you felt, the events that took place, etc. 

Again, start small. 

Slowly build up to talking or writing about it more and more. 

I started out journaling about what happened to me. 

It was very difficult at first. 

I was terrified that someone would gain access to my notebook. 

I did this for a while. I started to get more comfortable with writing about it. 

Next, I started talking about it more with my wife. 

Next, I started recording myself talking about it into my voice recorder app on my phone. I would play it back and listen to it. This was the hardest to get used to.

Now, I’m sharing my story on social media in hopes of mentoring others going through a similar situation. I never thought I would get to this point. 

I feel the most joy and freedom I’ve ever felt in my life. 

I’m a completely different person now. 

This doesn’t mean I don’t have challenges or bad days here and there, but I’m able to deal with them in a healthy way now, and they don’t run my life anymore.

Stay positive and take action!