Stop Fearing Your Emotions

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This famous phrase was coined during a speech given by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Why then do we fear so many things? Emotions can be very scary, and many people fear experiencing or expressing emotions.

Emotions are complicated and complex. We begin cultivating emotions very early in our infancy. If we are not taught how to understand, cope, and regulate our emotions, we can have great difficulties with them later in life. This is where our fear of emotions begins.

Emotions are natural to human existence. Robert Plutchik's wheel of emotions is considered one of the most prominent emotional theories of the 20th century. Think of this wheel as you would the primary color wheel.

The primary color wheel included yellow, red, and blue. When these colors combine, they make secondary colors. When secondary colors are mixed, they make tertiary colors. And so on and so forth. The wheel of emotions is relatively the same.