Mental Moment-Emotions Pop Up In the Strangest Ways

When things happen to us they don’t just go away. The stimulus might go away which helps you temporarily forget but that does not mean its gone.

To explain further I am going to use an example. You are in a longterm relationship that suddenly ends horrible. Your partner has had an affair and is verbally and physically abusive. All of this from a person you loved, trusted and felt safe with for 10 years. You decide the best thing to do is leave and move to another state. You move. You find a new job. The stimulus is gone and you start feeling better. You start feeling like yourself again.

After a few weeks you notice that you are doing things you’ve never done before. You make the bed, go to take a shower after which you look at the bed you made and see there’s wrinkles that you must fix. You spend 30 minutes trying to fix them. You play with the light dimmer for an hour before its perfect. Every time you leave the house you can’t remember whether or not you locked the door and go back to check it.

Things similar to a breakup and all the events of it, will effect you if you don’t deal with them. It may not effect you through OCD tendencies but it will come out. The implications of unconscious coping is much more broad and has the ability to effect your entire life for the rest of your life.

Happy Thursday!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: en.wikipedia.org