At times, my emotions get stirred up over something trivial. When overreacting, I tell myself, Stop! This is not a big deal. Often that’s enough for the wave of emotion to break and for me to regain my emotional footing. When such emotions persist, instead of using energy suppressing them, I find a safe place for a blech session. As the title emphasizes, it’s time-limited: Ten minutes, at most.
When I overreact, I know: It’s more complicated than just the small trigger. Invariably other stresses get worsened by the minor issue and/or get confounded with it.
During a blech session, I indulge in unbridled venting or crying or yelling. Instead of suppressing anger, sadness, frustration, impatience, and anything else that surfaces, I give all of it voice…and do so without self-judgment beyond a self-congratulatory “good for you to let it out.” Usually I’m alone. Sometimes I call a close friend who won’t try to fix the problems.or stop my bleching
Benefits of a blech session: The release ends my wasting emotional energy on something small. By hearing (instead of just feeling) the jumble of negativity, the disconnect between the small trigger and my big reaction becomes so obvious it sometimes makes me laugh at the silliness…or at the poignant humanity. That also helps me let go and move on.
When unpleasant emotions persist after a blech session, the lack of resolution often signals a problem needing attention. I will likely benefit from teasing apart the “why” behind the emotional explosion and/or asking for support dealing with the issues that allowed a molehill to grow into a mountain.
The art of Healthy Survivorship includes benefitting from the healing power of ten-minute blech sessions when that is all that is needed. And using blech sessions that don’t help as a useful signal that it is time to ask for support.
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