As you all open this newsletter on Monday morning, I am soaking up all the sun I can get under the palm trees in the City of Angels. A little end-of-summer rendezvous to conclude one of the most surprising summers yet, I can attest that lightness can be found even in the darkest corners. I have always been a big believer that travel offers more than just experience. It provides one of the best opportunities to increase introspection and use the broader lens of life to soak up perspectives we were missing back home. Although my California reflections will come in the next newsletter; I sit with peace as I write this piece in preparation for my next adventure.
The other day, I shared with a close friend that I no longer felt the intense emotions. No longer extremely amped and excited about new changes or meeting new people. But also not disheartened and saddened by losses to a degree where I lose my breath. The intensity of the emotions is not quite how it used to be. When I came to this realization, my immediate response was to question it, and then naturally, the anxiety set in. Was something wrong with me that prevented me from jumping over the moon for my new travels? Or that I was no longer crying every day due to my losses. Then, it took a second for the one thought to come ever so gently that this is what emotional regulation is meant to look like. To feel every single emotion without being consumed by it. To feel it to degrees without it leaving a burnt mark. The intensity of those heightened emotions is exactly what we have been trying to work on this whole time. And now that I had it, I questioned it.
There is a sense of confidence that comes with this process. It is a matter of resilience more than anything. It is a superpower of many sorts. But we must be careful that just because we are learning to regulate, we don’t stop ourselves from leaning into intense situations from time to time. Not because we will fall into the traps, but because we need to spice up our lives occasionally and make mistakes. Or how will we ever grow?
But that’s for the next reflection. I hope you all had a great summer. I know I did. Until the next one!
