There’s More to Who You Are

Naming and sitting with our emotions is important and necessary. The statement “if you can name it, you can tame it” is one I lean into often and have found much emotional healing through.

But, I’ve also had times with myself and times when I’ve sat with clients when naming mental health struggles becomes heavy, consuming, and infinite. Times when the emotions being experienced take a turn from being difficult and challenging to experience, to convincing us that they are all we are and the only thing we will ever feel again.

I will never encourage you not to name your emotions but, it’s also important not to let our mental health become our sole identity. Naming it is good, but it’s also good to remember it’s only a piece of the pie in your identity. When experiencing heightened emotional experiences and mental illness, name them, but also take time to name other aspects of who you are.

Maybe draw an actual circle and make slices that list the various parts of who you are. Or list them out, perhaps type them out on a note on your phone that you can keep going back to remind yourself.

For example, since the birth of my son, I’ve experienced heightened anxious tendencies. But, I’m also:

• A wife

• A mother to my son and two dogs

• A daughter, sister, aunt

• A book reader

• A therapist

• A business owner

• An outdoor enthusiast

• A wannabe landscape designer (who has so many unrealistic plans and dreams for my own yard)

• A cook

• A Kansas City sports team lover

• A musician

• A blogger

• A fitness enjoyer

Naming these other pieces starts to decrease anxiety's weight on me. It’s still there, I’m not dismissing it, but I’m putting it in its place. Anxiety may be a part of my life, but it doesn’t have to be my whole life. Whenever your mental health starts to feel like your sole identity, take some time and remind yourself that there’s more to who you are.