Silent Anonymous Voices End

6 Vices of Venting It can damage, or even destroy, relationships. If you habitually rely on another to vent negative feelings, you may eventually exhaust their patience and lead them to feel that their own wants, needs, and feelings have very little importance to you. And if they begin, routinely, to feel used by you—or even exploited—at some point they may refuse to continue as your private “dumping ground.” Having heard quite enough of your frustrations or failures, they may opt to liberate themselves from such negativity. So regularly deflecting your troubling emotions toward a friend (who in most instances hasn’t had anything to do with whatever provoked you) can seriously threaten that relationship. Choosing to ventilate directly to the person who upset you (typically, not a very prudent move) can actually  increase  your level of distress. Depending on their response—and you can generally assume that such individuals are either insensitive to your feelings or, frank...

6 Virtues of Venting In many (though not all) situations it’s better for you to discharge negative emotions than to keep them bottled up inside. Whether it’s sorrow,  anxiety , anger, or frustrations in general, repeatedly holding in what may need to come out has been related to compromised health—physical, mental, and emotional. The immediate feelings of relief derived from such letting go can hardly be overstated. Doubtless, at some point in your life you’ve benefited from the comfort and consolation of another person's supporting and validating you when you shared some distressing experience with them. Venting helps to restore your equilibrium. When your emotions have catapulted to the ceiling because you’ve let something get to you, your higher neo-cortical functioning goes offline. And with that impairment, your mental faculties can become addled—discombobulated. But if you have a trusted confidant(e) to assist you in regaining control of these rattled feelings, you’ll be...