"Les émotions non exprimées ne mourront jamais. Elles sont enterrées vivantes et ressurgiront plus tard de manière plus laide."

Imagine you’ve got a garden. You’re out there every weekend, pruning and planting, making sure everything looks great on the surface. But underneath, the soil is full of rocks and weeds that you ignore. Over time, those neglected bits don’t just disappear; they fester and grow, disrupting the garden’s beauty. That’s a lot like what happens when we don’t deal with our emotions. They don’t just vanish—they linger and morph into something worse.

You know, this idea isn’t new. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, was a major advocate for expressing and understanding our buried emotions. He believed that repressing feelings could lead to psychological issues. Picture this: you had a rough day at work. Maybe your boss criticized you in front of your colleagues. You felt humiliated, but you shoved the feeling down, telling yourself to just move on. But that humiliation didn’t evaporate. Instead, it transformed into stress, anxiety, or even anger—sometimes manifesting in ways you don't even connect to that original incident.

Let’s take a real-life example. Think of an office—probably like the one you work in. There’s this guy, Mike. Mike’s a pretty chill dude, but every now and then, he snaps. He loses his temper over seemingly minor things like someone using his favorite coffee mug. Why? Because Mike doesn’t express his frustrations when they happen. He bottles them up until they explode over something trivial. It’s not really about the mug; it’s about everything he’s been holding in.

So, what can you do with this understanding? Start small. The next time you feel upset, take a moment to acknowledge it. Don’t just brush it off. Talk to someone you trust, maybe a friend or even a therapist. Journaling helps too. Write down what happened and how it made you feel. It sounds simple, but putting your emotions into words can be incredibly freeing.

Let's say you’re in a relationship and your partner does something that annoys you. You could ignore it, think it’s not worth mentioning. But over time, those tiny annoyances pile up. One day, you blow up over something as silly as leaving the cap off the toothpaste. If you’d mentioned the little things as they came up, you could have dealt with them together, preventing that ugly explosion.

There’s this story about a woman named Maria. Maria was always the peacemaker in her family. She never expressed when she was hurt or upset because she didn’t want to cause trouble. But those unexpressed emotions built up. One day at a family gathering, she exploded about a small comment her brother made. The comment wasn’t the real issue; it was years of feeling overlooked and unheard. If Maria had expressed her feelings earlier, she might have avoided that dramatic scene.

So, think of those buried emotions like ghosts—they haunt you. But unlike ghosts, you can deal with them. You have the power to dig them up and face them. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. Addressing your feelings as they come up is like cleaning out that garden soil. It’s hard work, but your garden—your mind and heart—will be so much healthier for it.

Remember, emotions aren’t meant to be buried. They’re meant to be felt, understood, and expressed. So next time you feel something intense—don’t shove it down. Let it out, and deal with it. It’s a practice that’ll save you a lot of trouble in the long run.