What is Venting Out? 6 Easy Ways to Vent Out

 Self Help Article |  January 30, 2022

Venting out means letting out the emotions that we may be bottling up for some time. It’s essential for our mental wellbeing. Talking is the most prevalent form of venting out but is surely not the only option out there. There are other ways as well, read along to know more. 

     Venting out means letting out the emotions that we may be bottling up for some time. It almost feels like we are taking a breath in the fresh air after being in a closed room for a while. It’s essential for our mental wellbeing. 

Imagine a balloon that is already filled with air, what will happen if you keep pumping more air into it? It will eventually burst, right? People who don’t vent out their emotions and hold them in for long periods of time often feel overwhelmed and may even face emotional outbursts. 

      Studies suggest that we get immediate relief from stress after venting out. It makes us realize that emotions are temporary.

Talking is the most prevalent form of venting out. It involves two people, where one speaks and the other one listens. Since it is a burst of feelings, anyone listening also gets affected to some extent. Make sure you ask the person listening for consent before you start venting out. Don't vent endlessly as this might put the person listening under stress. It's important to abide by certain things to vent out the right way. 

     But a lot of people fear being judged and don’t really feel comfortable venting out to a person. That’s completely okay. Talking is surely not the only option out there. Some of the best ways to let go of your emotions are:

1.     Exercising- Working out or running is one of the best ways to cool yourself down. It helps in practicing mindfulness and also develops a deeper connection with ourselves. Meditation is another practice that enables you to see through and look at your deeper selves. 

2.     Journaling- Writing whatever we are feeling at a particular moment on a piece of paper helps us let go of those emotions. It’s important that you are completely honest with yourself. You can also reflect upon whatever you have written later on. This will not only help you vent out without any help from outside but with promote feelings of self-love.

3.     Mirror-Gazing- When feeling a lot of emotions at once, we may lose the ability to look deeper. Stand in front of a mirror, talk to yourself about everything that has been bothering you. Spending time reflecting on everything you are feeling and understanding what’s affecting you helps a lot. 

4.     Practicing Gratitude- Looking past the not-so-good things and being grateful for the good ones in every situation is an effective way as well. You can even try this after you ventilate to any of your friends and understand the whole situation once again.

5.     Arts/Music- Sometimes words are not enough for us to express how we are feeling. Sometimes, we need more than that. Art and music are really efficient tools in this case. They help us release our emotions and give them a beautiful shape. The best part is, you don’t need to be an expert in any of these to start.

There is nothing wrong with not being able to vent out to friends or close ones. It’s okay if any of the above ways don’t work as well for you as for someone else.

Sakshi Shah

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

We are a mental health startup creating quality content on Mental Health at GoodLives. Fighting the stigma against seeking therapy and creating awareness are our prime objectives.

The Practice of Using December for Retreat, Reflection & Letting Go

December can be a cold and dark month for many people, a time of lowered energy while still being very busy. For that reason, I find that’s an amazing time for:

·                                 Retreat: Take a little time out of my busy year for a little quiet solitude and turn inward, creating space for silence, contemplation, and mindfulness.

·                                 Reflection: This quiet time is a time to reflect on how the year has gone, and how I’d like to move into the New Year. We don’t often give ourselves enough time for reflection, as we’re always busy with activities.

·                                 Letting go: What have we become burdened with over the past year? Over the past decade? This time of turning inward is also a great time to let go of burdens, resentments, etc.

It’s a season for retreat and reflection, for me. Let’s talk about how that can look.

Creating Space for Retreat

Imagine that you were to sign up for a retreat this month … you put aside your daily life, all your busy work, all your projects and errands, and emails and messages … and you travel to another place. In this place, you remove yourself from the busy world and find space for quiet. For reflection. For contemplation, setting intentions, and reviewing how things have gone. For gratitude and appreciation for life. You might meditate, relax, read, or journal. You might take a walk in nature, or find solitude. You might just mindfully enjoy the space. You can do all of this without traveling, right where you are. It takes intention and taking action to create the space.

1                         Intention: You simply have to create the intention to create space for retreat. It’s as simple as saying, “I am going to create some space for reflection, mindfulness, gratitude, intention and letting go this month.” It’s the same as when you create the intention to sign up for a retreat, but instead of paying someone else to create the space for you … you do it yourself. Set the intention, even write it down.

2                          Create the space: This takes a little more work, but it’s absolutely doable. When can you create space for a retreat? Can you carve out 30-60 minutes a day? A couple hours? Can you take every Saturday off for this month? Or a full three days this weekend, or a full five days? It’s a matter of blocking off the time in your calendar, and then getting things done so that you can have that space — clearing out urgent messages and tasks, rescheduling appointments, and talking to people in your life so that you can have this space. It might mean renegotiating deadlines or project timelines. If you were going to travel to a retreat, you’d do all of this — this will just cost you less.

Now, you can actually go to a different place during your retreat — take a walk in a park or forest, or rent a hotel room in your city. Or you can do it at home if you can resist distractions. But the key thing is not to get caught up in your usual tasks and routines. Retreat from life, so that you can contemplate and reflect. Find solitude. Practice gratitude and mindfulness. Use a paper notebook and practice journaling.

Using This Time for Reflection

So you have a little space — maybe 30-60 minutes a day, maybe a day or two a week, maybe more. This space can be considered sacred. It’s devotional time, where you can devote yourself completely to:

·                                 Reflecting on your past year — how has it gone? What went well? What did you struggle with? What can you learn from all of that?

·                                 Reflecting on what you’re grateful for, and what you’d like to appreciate more of in your life.

·                                 Reflecting on what you might be holding onto — grudges, frustrations, resentments, emotional baggage, attachment — that you can let go of (more in the next section).

·                                 Contemplating what’s most meaningful to you in your life.

·                                 Contemplating what kind of meaningful work or purpose you’d like to pursue, or how to better pursue that.

·                                 Contemplating what you’d like to put your focus on.

·                                 Being mindful of each moment, and allowing yourself to appreciate the moment in silence.

You don’t have to do all of these, but you can consider which feels right to you. The idea is to use this sacred time for reflection, gratitude, mindfulness, contemplation, and solitude. Let this time in solitude be replenishing. Let it heal you. Let it be a beautiful time in your life.