Ignoring Feelings

But feelings can’t be ignored, no matter how unjust or ungrateful they seem.
Anne Frank

I struggle with this quote. Mostly because of who said it. Now, please don’t get me wrong. As a teen I read Anne Frank’s diary again and again. So I will try and interpret this quote without thinking too much about her background and fate.

I disagree! Mostly.

This quote and other quotes like that are usually understood to say that feelings are out of our control. But I don’t believe it to be true. Just because you feel something doesn’t mean you need to act on it. If I dislike someone very, very much it doesn’t mean that I need to go over to that person and say it out loud or even be nasty to them. And if I feel attracted to a person, who is not available, I won’t spend my days in a dark room feeling sorry for myself.

I remember feeling that way, but that was back when I was a teenager and was overwhelmed by all those new feelings. When the boy I fancied didn’t like me back or simply had no idea I existed, I was sad. I’d look at him in class or wherever our paths would cross, and dream and hope and suffer.

And today? Well, feeling rejected or not having your feelings reciprocated still sucks, but it’s not the end of the world.

Where I agree is that feelings shouldn’t be ignored. What I mean is that while one doesn’t need to act on every feeling, suppressing them is not healthy either. One should rather acknowledge them and deal with whatever feeling there is.

The point where I struggle with this quote is the following. While she was and is an impressive and intelligent person, she was a teenager, when she wrote it. And you see the world and your personal emotional world very differently at that age.

Btw, I also think that Romeo and Juliet is totally stupid (that is me saying it nicely). Come on, you’re 14 years old, you’ll get over spending one night with each other. You’ll love again.

If you’re still with me after I said that horrible thing about one of the most known and loved tragic love story, I will let you in on a little secret.

It might be hard to believe after this post, but I am very romantic. I know, I don’t show it very often, yet I am. Maybe I’d call myself a realistic romantic. Or a rational romantic. That is what makes me feel the way I feel about that quote.

I want to know my feelings. I want to understand my feelings. But I also know that I don’t have to act on every feeling and emotion I have. My feelings aren’t in charge of me, unless I let them.

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