Emotional Suppression: Leaders’ Enemy to Self-Awareness and Leadership Growth

As leaders, we are seen to have it all put together.

We strive for success on a daily basis.

We inspire people to do well at work.

We make a difference in other people’s lives.

But with the work, financial and cultural pressures, most of us are still struggling with emotional expression to some degree.

We resort to emotional suppression in the hopes of making the stress and shame go away only to feel it even more.

We start to avoid certain people or situations

We are prone to emotional outbursts

We become rigid and demotivated

Like a balloon underwater, our emotions won’t stop bugging us until they’ve reached the surface.

They are automatic responses of our body and there’s no point to suppressing them. They are meant to be felt.

Recognising your emotions and their effect in your life is the first step to understanding the triggers around you and developing a healthy relationship with these emotions.

Why is it important to be self-aware?

Understanding your own feelings, motives and desires start with self-awareness and emotional intelligence development.

Leading with strong emotional intelligence allows us to gain greater success in our organisations and make us fully functional human beings.

We develop better persuasion and influence skills

We improve our resourcefulness and feel in control and secure

We prevent burnout from happening and have healthier mental and physical states?

We become comfortable with change

We become more resilient to stress?

Sooner rather than later, you will see the gateway to having fulfilling relationships, careers, and success.

The 5?journal prompts to recognise your emotions and why you experience them

To develop your self-awareness, use these journal prompts to guide you in being aware that your emotions exist and being comfortable with expressing them.?

1. My most common emotions were:
2. I believe I feel them because:
3. The thoughts I noticed were:
4. The emotions I suppressed were:
5. It affects my life by:

Remember, our ability to recognise our emotional states is the beginning of having self-awareness and being able to manage ourselves effectively in our life and workplace.