Emotionally Bride: Navigating Feelings on the Journey to "I Do”

As a bride-to-be, you will experience many feelings or emotions.

Some brides feel fat, inadequate, or poor. Sometimes, they feel like this is not a good time to get married and will start pondering their decisions. Some still think that the good times to get married were before covid. Some even have questioned the groom's intentions to ask them in marriage. Do you think that this sounds like crazy thoughts for a bride-to-be?

Nope, it is very real, and it is a normal part of being a human being to have these thoughts and feelings, but we decide to accept or reject those lies as truth in our lives.

Dear, bride to be:

Emotions are normal for every human being, including brides like you. The good news is understanding that emotions are just temporal. You will not be forever happy or sad. Some days you will feel relaxed and excited when it comes to thinking about your wedding day, but on others you will feel like the entire world is against you, which is not true, by the way :)

Through the years, I have learned that people don't like to share with others that they are experiencing emotions like sadness or sorrow because they have been labeled bad. People want to be accepted.

This is why people hinder from others when they feel lonely. Imagine the pressure of a bride who is supposed to be happy all day.

I have not learned of someone who enjoyed uncomfortable emotions, especially when people are having so much trouble feeling vulnerable or uncomfortable.

The first step in mental health is embracing all emotions as part of our human nature, and one of the ways of embracing these emotions is by knowing and naming them all.

Before I continue, let me tell you a bridal story:

Anna was a bride-to-be just like you. She was happily planning her wedding for almost four months until she started feeling very anxious about getting married. Every day that passed, she dreaded the wedding day more and more.

Since she was a little girl, she dreamed of having an outdoor beach wedding in South Florida. Recently, she has been watching a lot of news regarding climate changes and new hurricanes forming on the globe, and day by day; she's worried that a massive storm will ruin her wedding day.

These thoughts are becoming a source of torment for her. She is sad, anxious, and very discouraged to think she should have the ceremony indoors. She longs to say her vows on the beach but fears embarrassment as she imagines herself all wet with her mascara running down her cheeks. Can you relate?

It is not easy for brides to express these feelings and thoughts. Some people can't just relate very well to brides, even vendors.

These kinds of thoughts can drive a bride to stay emotionally unbalanced during the whole planning and, in this way, losing the joy of her wedding.

The good news is that you can change how you feel by being kind to yourself and recognizing that these thoughts are just thoughts. Be careful and mindful about your words, the words you say to others, and what you say to yourself, but be aware of what words you will accept as truth in your life.

Are you going to continue watching negative news about the weather? Or will you trust God and leave God the outcome of your wedding?

Bad thoughts can unleash uncomfortable emotions and bad reactions, but guest what?

We have self-control thanks to the Holy Spirit.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23

Your emotions do not lead you, but you can govern them.

Bridezillas are led by their emotions, but you are not your emotions.

One of the consequences of becoming a bridezilla is that, in the end, no vendor or wedding planner in their sound mind will want to work with you, and if they do, they will never give you their best.

When a bride-to-be decides to be led by her emotions, she has great chances to hurt the people surrounding her, especially those she loves the most.

Some of them scream and throw tantrums; Others just don't care and indulge themselves in social media, ignoring everyone around them.

I feel very sad when I see these patterns because planning can take approximately one whole year, which is more than enough time for the brain to start creating very bad habits or patterns of behavior that the bride will take to the new marriage.

Good or bad habits are made in six months. While a bride is planning her wedding, she can start working on herself and train how she reacts or behaves when stressed.

She decides if she will remain calm or overreact to the event.

Anna chose the positive pathway and disconnected her social media accounts from her cellphone for a while. She started using the time she used to worry about all the wrong things that could happen to cultivate positive emotions and a good relationship with his future husband.

Anna chose to start walking in the morning, or when she felt stressed she went around to see nature and started journaling.

This wonderful and precious time can help you grow and mature as a woman and wife. These times of stress can also help you build resilience over future stress.

Be kind to yourself and start embracing all the emotions in your life.

Take those bad or uncomfortable emotions as teachers that God uses to show you what steps or actions you should take.

These emotions can help us to be away from people that are not good companies in our life and to be close to the ones that feed our well-being by their plain presence.

Next time instead of saying things like: "I am so stupid," say: "I feel stupid today," because just because you feel that way, it does not mean you are.

You are not your emotional bride-to-be.

RELATED: I KNOW YOU DIDN’T SEE THIS COMING-PLANNING A WEDDING DURING A DIFFICULT TIME