It’s Okay To… FEEL

By Dr Keith Beasley, Postgraduate Senior Admissions Administrator, School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies 

This pandemic, the resulting lockdowns, and the impact of both on how we all live at the moment, are too big to brush under the carpet and ignore. It will affect us – it already is affecting us – on so many levels. And It’s Okay To… have strong and painful feelings about it.

Actually, it has always been okay to have feelings about things.

It has always been okay to talk about these feelings and our emotional responses to the events happening around us. But how many of us do talk about it – particularly while at work?

It’s Okay To… feel more and think less.

I think that if we are to get through this, we have to get out more.

And not just physically – although our daily allowed exercise is also essential – but mentally and emotionally. We have to get out of our own thinking heads more often. We need to feel, sense and connect on an emotional level, be that with nature, with ourselves or with our colleagues.

Our whole working lives so far have been about thinking things through, reasoning, figuring out issues, whether professionally or academically. It’s not easy for many of us to disconnect from the rational thinking side of ourselves!

The breakthrough in my own mental health challenges came when I first realised that I think too much. Which for me was a bit like admitting that I have an addiction! We are addicted to thinking.

Managers, academics and administrators pride themselves on being objective, and not being swayed by emotional influences. But in reality, we are human beings who both think and feel, aren’t we?

It’s not just okay to talk about our feelings, it’s essential for our wellbeing.

Why have mindfulness, meditation and similar practices been so effective and so appreciated in recent years? I would suggest it is because they encourage and enable us to get out of our heads for a short while.

Doing something creative or connecting with nature achieves the same thing. Doing these things will help us to establish a more natural balance between thinking and feeling, and I would encourage you to indulge in these activities more frequently.

For deeper, more long-term benefits, it also helps if we can admit: ‘I think too much’. And to understand that It’s Okay To … think less and feel more.