The Cost of Carrying it All

In reading The Unexpected Journey by Emma Heming Willis — a thoughtful and insightful book for care partners of loved ones living with dementia — an interesting statistic jumped out at me: spousal caregivers have a 63% higher mortality rate than non-caregivers in the same age group.

Wow.

This should grab your attention, whether or not you are a caregiver.

Why?

Because beyond highlighting the importance of nutrition, sleep, proper medical care, and other foundational aspects of health, I think it also illuminates something we often overlook: the profound impact our thoughts and emotions have on our bodies and overall well-being.

Emotions, self-judgments, and feelings do not simply disappear. We cannot ignore them and hope they won’t eventually rise to the surface. They ask to be acknowledged, validated, felt, and allowed to move through both our energetic and physical bodies.

Think of your body as a vibrant flow of energy seeking expression in the world. When we create dams and barriers — suppressing emotions, overriding needs, silencing truth — that energy can become stagnant, contributing to dis-ease in the body.

Our emotions are messengers, quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — insisting on being heard.

And because these messages arise from a deeper part of our being, they are not always meant for the mind to analyze, fix, or solve with logic. Sometimes, the mind’s role is simply to witness — to listen — while a wiser, quieter part of ourselves metabolizes the experience and allows it to move through.

Anything coming up is coming up to go.

With love and resonance,