Do Emotions Have an Age?

When a child cries, there is often a well-intentioned adult, who will chime in with “Enough with those tears; you're a big boy now!”. This seemingly harmless phrase reflects a skewed perception of emotions for both boys and girls.

Is there a right or wrong age to express our feelings? And is it the same for everyone, regardless of gender? How much should we hold back our emotions?

Nowadays, we're constantly distracted and bombarded with stimuli, often resorting to stereotyped and rushed expressions of what we feel, flooding our chats with “emojis” (those famous yellow faces). This happens in personal relationships and many other areas of life too. There are apps to review anything with a “like” or a string of “stars”; even in airport toilets, you can rate your satisfaction with a “traffic light” button system.

Even food labels are catching on, reducing the assessment of a product’s qualities to a simple “good” or “bad”.

Are we becoming emotionally dry? Not really, but as we age, we pay less attention to our inner world. We have less time, and so we “cut corners” even in our expressions of affection.

Meanwhile, children are justifiably “selfish”, entirely focused on themselves and expecting the world to pay attention to them. They are busy discovering themselves, both physically and spiritually, which is a daily task and a great adventure. So, unless they’re just throwing tantrums, why stop them from being innocent, spontaneous and unashamed to show they’re fragile,
dissatisfied or suffering?
Maybe we should learn from them to drop some of our cultural filters,
open up and communicate more.
That’s the essence of this Sunday newsletter, which is an honest conversation, week after week. It has no practical purpose, other than sharing stories and connecting.

Until next time...