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one of the wildest things i’ve had to repeatedly relearn is that emotions only feel like they last forever if you resist them
if you open up to them they flow through you like water
you can feel like total shit about yourself or your life, all of your worst fears can feel objectively and eternally true, and then one big enough cry later you’re completely outside of that reality. just transported somewhere else entirely
calling it “emotional processing” makes it sound like a skill you have to learn but i’m still convinced it’s mostly about unlearning - there’s a natural process that animals allow effortlessly that we actively train children to interrupt in a million ways
when an impala is captured by a predator it plays dead; if the predator goes away it literally shakes off the experience until it's able to move
meanwhile, human children are raised as follows:
sit still. be quiet. don't make a fuss. don't start laughing or crying in the middle of the classroom. you wouldn't want to bother the other children would
if you open up to them they flow through you like water
you can feel like total shit about yourself or your life, all of your worst fears can feel objectively and eternally true, and then one big enough cry later you’re completely outside of that reality. just transported somewhere else entirely
calling it “emotional processing” makes it sound like a skill you have to learn but i’m still convinced it’s mostly about unlearning - there’s a natural process that animals allow effortlessly that we actively train children to interrupt in a million ways
when an impala is captured by a predator it plays dead; if the predator goes away it literally shakes off the experience until it's able to move
meanwhile, human children are raised as follows:
sit still. be quiet. don't make a fuss. don't start laughing or crying in the middle of the classroom. you wouldn't want to bother the other children would
hey remember how we went to school where we spent 8 hours a day for over a decade having what our bodies could do completely under the control of authority figures
— QC (@QiaochuYuan) November 13, 2019
boy i wonder if that had any lasting effects