Hello and happy Monday. I was grumpy for the majority of the day. I finally snapped out of it when I decided to stop working at 4:30 and take my grumpiness out on a hard workout. Lifting heavy things and sweating it out always seems to help.
I was kind of annoyed with myself for being in a such a grumpy mood. I have really tried to do a better job “owning” my emotions and dealing with them rather than feeling helpless and victim to them. I 100% admitted to myself that I was in a bad mood and there was really no reason for it. I was frustrated that I couldn’t snap out of it.
Which leads me to another point…one of my biggest weaknesses is my inability to hide my emotions. Not that I think that it’s always a healthy thing to hide your emotions but I wear my heart on my sleeve. Big time. My whole life I’ve been told that sometimes I come off cold and unapproachable. It’s not that I mean to distance people but it’s hard for me to smile and fake it, believe it or not.
Faking it requires so much energy. And when you’re feeling down, energy is not what you have. I told my yoga class tonight that when I seem the most unapproachable is probably when I need the biggest hug. It’s funny because I do put myself in front of people so much and I receive a lot of comments on my perceived mood. Just last week one of my friends and yoga regulars was telling me how genuinely happy and truly myself I seemed in class.
Like I said earlier, I’ve tried to really look into my emotions and why I feel the way that I do and not to make decisions based on emotions that don’t serve me well. My goal is to feel in control of my life and not like life is just happening to me. It’s okay to feel…whether that is happy, sad, joyful, angry…it’s just critical to understand why you feel the way you do.
Do you wear your heart on your sleeve or do you hide your emotions?ย
I felt like a new girl after my workout and then teaching my favorite group of yogis.
Dinner tonight was a salad with the leftover roasted salmon. Toasted sourdough on the side.
Off to enjoy The Bachelorette – a guilty pleasure! ๐
I am totally guilty of slapping on a happy face when I’m upset….
& whenever I’m super crankypants & need a new outlook on life, I make sure I hit the gym & sweat ASAP. I always walk out with a much more positive perspective.
You know, sometimes it’s enough to just recognize the emotion that you are having without necessarily understanding it. I can drive myself crazy trying to dig around and find reasons for it, but most of the time it will just pass in its own time if I allow it to. It always does.
By the way….I took a yoga class from you for the first time yesterday and loved it! My legs are still hurting from the 60 second standing splits, but it was amazing. Thank you for the great class.
I am the exact same way. I have never been good at ‘faking it.’ And I kind of get annoyed with people who do it all of the time. Everyone has their good and bad days and the people who are more honest about it are typically the people who become my friend, lol.
I completely understand! I wear my emotions on my sleeve big time as well, and it i hard to hold it in when sometimes I need to cry or just be angry. Doing a hard workout ALWAYS makes me feel better. Glad you ended your day on a good note!
A good, hard workout always makes me feel better too! Glad the end of your day was great! Love the bachelorette too!! Especially since part of it was filmed in Charlotte ๐
I think it’s hard to be so “visual” and still feel like you can have privacy. Faking it provides privacy, and sometimes that’s ok – you owe zero explanation. There is also such a beauty to being raw – but that is also very scary because you’re exposing yourself.
I have a hard time remembering to be me- raw or guarded depending on the situation – but the people in my life will love me through it. The people in your life will meet you where you are.
Back to the bachelorette! Thank you for the post – definitely understand.
Another “Heart on her sleeve” wearer here. Typically this is a good thing — I’m usually recognized as a positive, energetic, approachable person. However, I can also be sucked into a vortex of sadness or dissatisfaction and can’t/don’t just put on a mask. I am still learning how to accept those emotions as they are and move on accordingly.
I definitely wear my heart on my sleeve. I agree that I will never fake my true feelings/emotions unless I have to for professional reasons. It’s so hard to do–but I try to separate work and personal life as much as possible. My boyfriend calls me over sensitive and I just need to let things go–but I’m not going to hide it if something bothered me. He’s the kind of person that doesn’t show emotions–and trying to get him to open up to me is like trying to get a dog to drive a car. We are complete opposites when it comes to expressing ourselves and showing emotions–and I’ll admit, it’s caused a lot of problems–but we are working at them….because in the end, it will make us both better people ๐
I so love this blog because you are so genuine. No one is happy or cheerful everyday. That would just be weird. Sometimes, all a feeling wants it to be felt. xoxo
Sadly I show ALLL of my emotions! It sucks sometimes!
I wear my heart on my sleeve too, people can immediately tell what mood I’m in. Its a good and bad trait. I just try to be happy once a day. It doesn’t have to be all day but if I can make one thing happy then my day will be ok.
Oh boy, you’re talkin’ my language Jen. One of my biggest struggles/weaknesses is with my emotions. I wear them on my sleeves as well. I’m going to bed tonight praying for a better day tomorrow for both you & me! ๐
I am again so appreciative of your pure honesty on this blog. Emotions can rule our lives and make it hurt to even get out of bed on the worst days. Hormones, sleep, weather, people, energies, life all play such large roles. We are socialized to be happy all the time, especially as women in America. Europeans are a lot better at not smiling out of nervousness or fake-ness. I’m in CA so it’s a habit of mine even tho sometimes I feel like crying when i do it.
A therapist once pointed out to me that being “happy” is not “right” and “sad” “wrong”. We can’t be happy all the time or most of the time even. If we were, we wouldn’t appreciate how good we feel on our “on” days. Life is such a rollercoaster..all we can do is stay on for the ride and look forward to waking up refreshed. If not tomorrow, SOON. Have you ever looked into buddhism? Yoga obviously focuses a lot on meditation but reading up on the practice of buddhism and the path to enlightenment is really inspiring and reminds us how simple life really is…maybe check it out if you find time in your super busy life! ๐ always love your entries.
I’m the same way… I try to come off very happy most of the time, but when I’m upset or frustrated it takes so much energy to fake it. Especially since I’m a teacher, I have to be “on” all the time and sometimes I just can’t force another smile. Hope you have a better day today!!! ๐
I am definitely like you, I can’t hide how I feel! And I’ve been told the same thing, people say that I can be intimidating but I don’t know why because I’m actually kind of shy until you get to know me! I guess that’s just how people interpret my shyness? Anyways I am with you. Hope you enjoyed the Bachelorette…my guilty pleasure as well ๐ Hope your Tuesday is much better!!
I have to mimic what Pamela said, I so appreciate how genuine you are, Jen! I, too, wear my heart on my sleeve- people can so easily perceive my mood that I really have to be careful. It’s not that I want to hide anything, I just don’t want my emotions to interfere with a professional situation, so I try to be really conscious of my expressions and body language (it doesn’t always work though!). I also find that I can get into bad moods for no real reason- so I’m trying to be more conscious of my mood and body at those moments and work through letting going of those feelings by adjusting my perspective. Anyway… nice to know I’m not the only one who struggles with things like that…
I totally wear my heart on my sleeve. Sometimes I’m told I’m almost too bubbly and goofy, but it’s really just how I am. However, if I am not feeling well or get my feelings hurt, it shows immediately on my face and, like you, I can’t hide it very well.
Great post. I’m all about identifying feelings and figuring out why I feel that way and what to do about it.
Funny how life puts things out there just when you need to hear it. Thank you for sharing.
heart on sleeve. all the time. and i’ve been told that my expression can speak volumes about what i’m feeling.
I am right there with ya! It’s hard for me to be cheery when I’m feeling blue, and that kind of stinks for the people around me.
I’m with you! I’ve been in a funk for a couple of months now, but decided that it wasn’t fair to those around me when none of us could help the circumstances we were presented with. And I started to see how much people rely on me and how my bad mood really affects others. Sometimes it’s shocking to realize how much others look to you to determine their own feelings. Thanks for sharing and being so completely honest. ๐
Well, I think I hide it, but everyone around me notice my mood. I’m always the last person to understand what’s going on in my mind/ heart…. Weird !
But I do think, people can’t even understand how strong my emotions are sometimes ….
People actually echo that “cold and unapprochable” thing to me sometimes, too. I think it’s for the same reason that mentioned. But I think it’s a good quality to be candid and honest with how you’re feeling! Better people know you for who you are then who you’re pretending to be.
I’ve been a fan of your blog for quite some time. I just LOVE all the food you post – you really have some great ways of putting food togther and the recipes are tops too!
Only because I’m an ‘ol gal (in my forties and have been into fitness my whole life) and I’ve been around a bit longer…..I believe you may have a touch of overtraining syndrome. That’s prevalent among instructors that teach many classes and I’ve noticed how you love Crossfit (and have recently added it into your weekly routines), and along with teaching the BodyPump classes, I think you may be overdoing it. (so sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a “mom-nag” I really adore reading your blog).
Now, I won’t bash CF or BP (I’m not a fan of either – only because from a professional standpoint I have experienced injury from BP and I think they are too taxing on the body in general).
That was all I wanted to point out at what may be the culprit, overtraining takes an emotional as well as physical toll on your body as well.
I truly enjoy your blog, reading about your life and love love love the food! I hope I didn’t offend you in any way.
When I was younger, I definitely was more of a heart on my sleeve kind of personality. Now that I’m older and have had many more experiences, both good and bad, I tend to hide my feelings. For better or for worse, I’m not sure!
I have a hard time hiding my emotions or NOT saying my opinion. I am getting better though. Getting older I guess I want to like who I am more, so I am more aware and work on myself and my interactions with people. Thanks for your honesty and it so interesting to hear this from a blogger. Bloggers typically seem so open and friendly, hearing that people get the impression you are unapproachable is hard to believe, but I can understand it. There is a tough line between being genuine and being fake
i love this! really needed to hear it, and just saved all of those images. thanks for your candid honesty!!
I am so with you on this post. Often I find myself slipping into a mood and have to remind myself to figure out what’s going on in my head before I end up taking it out on every single person that comes with a 5 mile radius of me. Definitely helps… Except when figuring it out just makes it even more obvious how rubbish it is!
Just discovered your blog and really love it ๐