Demystifying Anger, Sadness and Fear

Or do you just call yourself “emotional”?

Many people don’t know how to recognise what they are actually experiencing, because, simply, we were never taught this. But it is never too late to learn.

Women are more likely to express sadness when they actually feel anger, while men will express anger when they feel sadness, and there is a reason for that.

For generations, women have been taught that anger is not an acceptable emotion, so they have transformed that emotion into an allowed expression of sadness. Because for women it was ok to cry, but not to yell.

Men have learned that crying is not allowed as it is a sign of weakness, so they express their sadness or hurt with a raised voice, assertiveness, or even aggression. Aggression in some forms is still seen as a sign of masculinity.

The problem is that anger and sadness are different emotions, with different tasks and lessons, and should be released from the body differently and appropriately.

Ultimately, this transformation of emotion into allowed expression has health consequences.

Women will often pile unexpressed anger in the throat and have more frequently issues with the thyroid gland, while suppression of healthy anger will also lead to getting ill from cancer and autoimmune diseases more often than men.

Men, on the other hand, carry unprocessed sadness on their chest and have, more often than women, issues with heart attacks and depression, and ultimately, suicide.

For your own health, it is important to recognise which emotion you are actually feeling, so that you can process them and release them as required.

If you want to learn more about anger, sadness and fear, join me on my next lecture that will take place on May 14^th, at the Impact Hub Zagreb.