What to do with Feelings of Emptiness

We all have good and bad days because that’s part of life. I personally have been experiencing anxiety and I know that a lot of you can relate, especially since we are still in a pandemic and there’s so much unknown surrounding the rest of 2020. I’ve come to truly embrace and honor feelings because I believe it’s a beautiful thing to be able to experience a variety of emotions. If you look at it on a spectrum, there’s tons of wavelengths that corresponds to different emotions and we as humans, will experience the majority of them, if not all in our lifetime.

One specific feeling I want to address is emptiness because it’s a feeling that I don’t think gets acknowledged as often as it’s felt. It’s definitely not a pleasant feeling by any means because I would associate it with feeling numb and nothing in one. And if I’m going to be quite honest, that’s the feeling that I have been observing for the past week or so. I’ve been meditating a lot and one big takeaway I got from a session was:

You are not your feelings. You are the witness and observer of the feeling.”

That truly stuck out to me because that it could not anymore true. Instead of saying that “I am empty” I am able to now shift it to “I observe emptiness.” Once I was able to adopt that mindset and take it from a perspective of an observer, I was able to look at my situation and mood in a different light, which brings me the below tips on how to handle feelings of emptiness.

What to do with Feelings of Emptiness

•  Don’t attack yourself for feeling negative and empty, instead acknowledge them and honor them for they are valid. Usually, your feelings are reflectors of your inner hurt, pain and bottled up feelings and suppressed emotions.

• Try to pinpoint the reason for the hole that’s in your heart. Is it loss of purpose, or a lost relationship, or is it having no direction, or that nothing sparks joy?

• Ask yourself if you feel wanted, or are loved for who you are. Is it because others haven’t confirmed their love for you? Is it because you haven’t truly looked within yourself and accept/ love yourself, flaws and all?

• Don’t escape into distractions like burying yourself in work or ignoring the emptiness as that only briefly covers the wound that’s deep inside.

• Listen carefully to your self talk – notice negative put downs, or a lack of self respect, or when you’re hard upon yourself. Talk to yourself as you would talk to your child or loved one.

• Choose to build yourself up and focus more upon self care and self love. Be compassionate, caring, and kind towards yourself.

• Invest in relationships which build your self esteem and self worth, and those that you can truly be yourself around.

• Remind yourself you’re worthy of a happy and full life. You deserve your goals and dreams. Decide to work to make them real.