Resilience in Business or Emotional Suppression?
- Raluca Maria
- Mar 12
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 17
How Resilient Are You in Reality?
Have you ever been at a point where, even though you felt like you were collapsing, you told yourself you had to keep going, without showing weakness?
We live in a world that glorifies control and endurance, but how many of us confuse emotional suppression with resilience? And how much does this confusion actually cost us?
Lately, resilience has been increasingly discussed and is perceived as an essential virtue, especially in business. It is one of the key tools for survival in life. The more resilient you are, the more you look back and share with those around you, with a stoic and contemplative air, about the many “battles” you have fought. The bigger, more complex, and seemingly impossible to win these “battles” were, the greater your admiration—and that of others—becomes.
However, many people mistake resilience for emotional suppression. Many have been to “war,” but few have returned whole. What is the real price of this confusion?
Resilience in business vs. Emotional Suppression
Being resilient does not mean suppressing your emotions, pretending not to feel anything, and continuing mechanically. Emotional suppression means ignoring your emotions, "sweeping them under the rug" until you no longer even know what you’ve buried there.
What Does Emotional Suppression Look Like?
Avoiding or denying feelings: “I feel nothing.”, “Nothing affects me.”, “I’m fine.”
Pushing problems aside until they become impossible to ignore.
Tolerating chronic stress without taking measures to restore emotional balance.
Consequences of Suppression:
Hidden anxiety
Burnout and exhaustion
Health problems (hypertension, diabetes, autoimmune diseases)
Emotional suppression sometimes leads to emotional blunting if emotions are suppressed for too long. People with emotional blunting often feel disconnected from themselves and others, leading to difficulties in relationships, work, and overall well-being.
What Is Authentic Resilience?
Recognizing and accepting emotions – observing them and allowing them to exist without suppressing them.
Expressing emotions in a healthy way – through reflection or communication with trusted people.
Learning from every challenge – allowing yourself to feel but not identifying with the pain.
To better understand how the dynamic between resilience in business and emotional suppression works, let’s look at a concrete example. Ovidiu, an ambitious entrepreneur, believed he could control his entire professional and personal world.
Ovidiu’s Story – A Leader Who Suppressed His Emotions
Ovidiu built a business in five years, constantly investing, hiring people, and expanding his team. However, as responsibilities piled up, he felt stretched in all directions:
Managing cash flow and suppliers
Finding new clients
Lack of time for family
Health problems – medical tests showing a risk of diabetes
What Did Ovidiu Do?
He tried to manage his time better, work even harder, and push himself further. Three to four coffees a day, sleeping pills, a short temper. He lost his sense of joy, becoming irritable and distant.
It took a clear wake-up call—a serious medical diagnosis—for him to realize he couldn’t continue this way.
The Shift:
He started acknowledging his emotions, allowing himself to be vulnerable, seeking help, and realizing that his team could function even without his constant control. He kept working, but now from a place of inner peace.
Just like Ovidiu, stress can lead us into a dangerous downward spiral, both physically and emotionally. But what actually happens in our bodies during these situations?
The Science Behind Stress and Resilience
When we live for an extended period in a state of stress and do not process our emotions in a healthy way, our body starts producing excessive stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline. In the long run, this leads to increased heart rate and energy levels as part of the fight-or-flight response. It’s the body's way of preparing itself for potentially dangerous or harmful situations.
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Steps Toward Healthy Resilience
1. Recognizing Emotions
The first step toward true resilience is recognizing and accepting what you feel, instead of ignoring or denying your inner reality.
Suppression:
“I feel nothing.”
“This doesn’t affect me.”
“I’ll just keep going no matter what.”
Resilience:
“I feel overwhelmed right now, and that’s okay.”
“It hurts to see reality, but I allow myself to feel this pain.”
“I made a mistake, but I can learn from this experience.”
When we go through a transformation process, it is normal to feel overwhelmed. In entrepreneurship, these moments occur during business growth phases or when transitioning from one role to another in a corporation or institution. It’s an expansion of consciousness and a recalibration of how we perceive our professional reality.
In management, conscious leadership is increasingly emphasized—transitioning from a meritocracy-driven, competition-based, performance-focused management style to one based on authenticity, empathy, self-reflection, and decision-making aligned with personal values and the greater good.
In these processes of evolution, one of the strongest emotions we experience is frustration. This moment marks a push toward growth, and development is never an easy process. It is as if, after effortlessly climbing hills, we suddenly face the challenge of scaling our first 1,000-meter mountain. It is natural to feel overwhelmed, but this discomfort should not be seen as an obstacle; rather, it is a sign of progress.
2. Processing Emotions
Suppression:
Hiding emotions, hoping they will disappear.
Avoiding reacting, believing it prevents problems.
Thinking that not talking about a problem makes it non-existent.
Resilience:
Becoming aware of emotions without being consumed by them.
Finding healthy ways to express them—through discussion, writing, or introspection.
Asking yourself: “What can I learn from this situation?”
Even employees fall into the emotional suppression trap. Alina, a corporate employee, believed for years that showing vulnerability would make her seem weak.
She had the courage to open up, work on herself, and acknowledge her emotions. This allowed her to make a quantum leap in her growth.
She went from feeling deeply overwhelmed and lethargic—believing that working harder would make her more knowledgeable and in control—to realizing that she was enough exactly as she was. She understood that her value was not defined by what she did, but by who she was. Today, even though her external circumstances haven’t changed, her perspective has transformed profoundly.
Alina is a responsible person who enjoys her work, but now, she is professional and engaged without letting her emotions overwhelm her.
Because, in the end, it is not the situations that overwhelm us, but the way we relate to them and how we manage our emotions.
3. Managing Difficult Situations
Suppression:
Denying the existence of a problem.
Trying to maintain rigid control over situations.
Avoiding real solutions through excessive work or distractions.
Resilience:
Seeking real solutions instead of running from the problem.
Asking for help when needed.
Creating a balance between emotional management and rational decision-making.
When we go through periods of growth, we often enter the fight-or-flight phase, a moment when the mind is no longer a reliable ally. Instead of offering clarity and wisdom in decision-making, it becomes a space dominated by fear and uncertainty.
In these moments, fear makes its presence felt, and the ego—our conditioned identity—automatically shifts into survival mode. It desperately tries to regain control, believing that this is the only way to stay safe.
This is why many people around us—friends, colleagues—constantly feel the need to be in control. They want to dictate where they go, what activities they engage in, and every detail of their lives.
In today's society, control has become a virtue. We admire those who appear to have everything under control, considering them models of success. But this is merely an illusion. We believe we are in control—until reality abruptly wakes us up with an unexpected event, a tragedy around us, or a crisis in our own lives.
What Is the Wiser Approach?
Should we always try to control everything, or should we learn to manage situations healthily?
What is more valuable?
Always being smart and relying on IQ?
Or being wise and understanding that life cannot be controlled, only navigated with balance and adaptability?
Would you like my help in understanding and using your gift?
I can help you understand the cause of your struggles, discover your hidden gifts, and maximize your potential. Are you curious how this works? Book a free 45 minutes session and find out. I am excited to meet you!
The Secret to Resilience
✔ Accept vulnerability as a source of power.
✔ Constantly ask yourself: “What lesson can I learn from this challenge?”
✔ Prioritize raising your level of consciousness.
✔ Build an authentic dialogue with yourself.
✔ Seek mentorship and guidance. Society teaches us to handle everything alone, but for thousands of years, people have relied on communities and wise mentors for guidance.
Suppressing emotions means saying, "I'm fine," while feeling exhausted inside.
Resilience means recognizing, "I'm not okay right now, but I’m in the process. I will find a way."
The next time you take a walk in the park or through a forest, look up at the trees.
The strongest trees are not the ones that stand rigid against the storm but those that learn to bend without breaking, dancing in harmony with the grandeur of nature.
Similarly, true resilience is not about ignoring your emotions but about understanding, accepting, and growing alongside them.
Because absolute control does not bring balance, flexibility and the ability to adapt do.
The real question is not whether you can endure but whether you can grow in the midst of change. What do you choose?
Bibliography:
Would you like my help in understanding and using your gift?
I can help you understand the cause of your struggles, discover your hidden gifts, and maximize your potential. Are you curious how this works? Book a free 45 minutes session and find out. I am excited to meet you!
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