Give Yourself Permission to Process Mental Anguish

Do you consider yourself high functioning? Are you generally able to put events and sources of stress in compartments so that you can continue to function? Until one day you can’t. The compartments are overflowing and you are having problems focusing on tasks. How do you give yourself permission to process mental anguish?

That’s me today. The last few weeks have been hard and I needed to give myself permission to have some mom time. There seem to have been endless weeks filled with news that should have shaken my world each time. Somehow I was able to find it in me to put each one in its own compartment and move through my day to get what needed to get done, done.

Then a simple email with news that normally would’ve easily filled a small compartment, broke the walls within me. I couldn’t function this morning. The dark cloud consumed me and I had to just let myself process the feelings I’ve buried over the last little while.

I had to give myself permission to work through my anguish so that I could start to heal.

Give Yourself Permission to Process Mental Anguish

Everyone’s tolerance level for how much they can handle is different. The key to maintaining a healthy mindset is understanding when to give yourself permission to process mental anguish.

Mental anguish can and will affect your physical health if you don’t recognize the signs that healing is necessary. Eventually, the brain and body will tell you to slow down.

When you are able to give yourself permission to start your healing process then the brain has the freedom to clear itself of these worries, thoughts, overwhelm and stresses so that you can start to find ways to work through them bit by bit.

My personal steps include:

recognizing the need to listen to how I’m feeling – being mindful of the signs
accept the feelings as they are – asking myself why I may be feeling them
find ways to simplify the situation so that I may ease the mental anguish I’m feeling

With endless news of death and illness throughout the last month, I’ve found that spending moments remembering those loved ones and being grateful for those moments has helped me. I gave myself permission to process mental anguish.

Practicing gratitude wasn’t something I did naturally. However, I’ve learned that accepting my feelings and then acknowledging the positive items or events that I can be grateful for, has helped me move the dark clouds that used to linger too long.

This form of therapy might work for some, but mental health ailments should never be taken lightly. If you are struggling please seek medical advice and ask for help from a professional. Your health and well-being are important.

How do you give yourself permission to process mental anguish?