We’re likely to bounce between feelings of happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, exhaustion or any number of other emotions every day. No matter which ones you experience, they are all normal and they deserve to be listened to. Where we often go wrong, according to licensed psychotherapist Dr. Zoe, is in our reaction to those feelings—either lashing out at someone or making an impulsive decision we later regret. Even when we choose not to react by suppressing our emotions, we are entering into dangerous territory.

Learning how to control your feelings and they way you respond to them is such a critical part of life that Darlene and Julie decided to bring back a previous podcast episode—where Dr. Zoe appears as a guest—on the topic.

In the episode, Dr. Zoe shares several reasons why we fear our emotions, how we can develop emotional intelligence in ourselves and our children, and how to communicate our feelings in a healthy way with our spouse and coworkers. And yes, vent sessions count—with the right parameters!

Dr. Zoe is a passionate practitioner in the field of clinical psychology. She is licensed as a psychotherapist and divides her time between her family life, clinical practice, virtual life, and relationship coaching, speaking, writing and hosting her podcast. You can follow Dr. Zoe by visiting her site, or finding her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter as well as her podcast, Stronger in the Difficult Places.

Submit a question to our free Ask Dr. Zoe column.

“We have a fear of social rejection. That’s really why we fear our feelings.” —Dr. Zoe

Mentioned

• 
  
• “Ask Dr. Zoe – Handling My Teen’s Anger”
  
• Feelings worksheet
  
• “Do Strong Women Like Masculine Men?”
  

Related

• 
  
• “How to Develop Emotional Intelligence”
  
• “This Is What I Do When My Child Has ‘Big Emotions'”
  

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