Episode 8: When We Don’t Want to Feel - The Truth About Avoiding Our Emotions

Welcome back to All the Feels, sweet friends. 💛

In this episode, Lauren Carlisle Brown takes a compassionate, honest look at one of the most common — and misunderstood — ways we handle our emotions: avoiding them.

Lauren explains what emotional avoidance really is, how it shows up in everyday life (often without us realizing), and why behaviors like overworking, overeating, scrolling, overdrinking, shopping, or “keeping busy” can become default ways of coping when feelings feel like too much.

She also acknowledges that some of the topics in this episode — like addiction and overuse of substances or behaviors — can feel heavy. With deep care, Lauren invites you to listen with an open heart, reminding you that avoidance is not a sign of failure but a very human attempt to find relief.

From there, she gently guides you into a powerful reframe: while unconscious avoiding can create problems over time, there is a way to work with this pattern more lovingly through something she calls a supportive pause — a form of conscious avoiding that protects your system without numbing you out.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What emotional avoidance actually is (and what it looks like day-to-day)
  
• Why we instinctively reach for distractions, numbing, and “over-” behaviors
  
• How Western culture normalizes and even glorifies avoidance
  
• The role dopamine plays in numbing patterns — and why this is deeply human, not a character flaw
  
• How unconscious avoiding can range from mild overdoing to strong habits and, in some cases, addiction
  
• Why compassion (not shame) is the only doorway to real change
  
• What conscious avoiding / a supportive pause is — and how to use it wisely
  

What Is a Supportive Pause?

Lauren introduces the idea of a supportive pause — an intentional, gentle way to step back from overwhelming feelings without abandoning yourself.

A supportive pause might look like:

• Taking a walk or stepping outside for fresh air
  
• Watching something light or funny for a few minutes
  
• Listening to music, dancing, or moving your body
  
• Doing a simple grounding or somatic practice
  
• Enjoying a small, safe pleasure that doesn’t create negative fallout later
  

The key is that a supportive pause:

• Soothes rather than numbs
  
• Has no harmful consequences on the other side
  
• And is paired with the intention to return to your emotions when you have more capacity
  

It’s not about escaping your feelings forever. It’s about creating enough space so you can eventually come back to them with more steadiness, clarity, and care.

A Gentle Invitation for the Week

This week, Lauren invites you to notice:

• Where do you tend to “over-” something? (Overwork, overspend, overeat, over-scroll…)
  
• When does it feel like you might be unconsciously avoiding a feeling?
  
• Could a supportive pause serve you more than an autopilot numbing pattern?
  

No judgment. Just compassionate awareness.

Every moment of noticing is a step toward deeper emotional safety and self-trust.

TIME SENSITIVE OFFER:

🔥 Ready for a real shift? I’m offering a one-hour, highly focused private session: the Emotional Breakthrough Session. 

It’s designed to help you stop looping in the same emotional patterns, feel deeply seen, access your inner wisdom, and begin stepping into a new version of yourself.

Let’s move from stuck to alive,  one hour can make all the difference.

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Take the next step in your self-care journey

Download The Exquisite Self-Care Handbook, Lauren’s free guide to help you slow down, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with what truly nourishes you.

 It’s the perfect companion to the work we explore here on All the Feels.

👉 Get your free copy of The Exquisite Self-Care Handbook HERE

Connect with Lauren

• Instagram: @the_emotionscoach
• Website: laurencarlislebrown.com
• Freebie: The Exquisite Self-Care Handbook