Words used as fillers

We often use words “merely” to fill the silence for the sake of avoiding the underlying emotions.

Sometimes we use significant words and phrases such as “this changed my life”, full of promises but empty of substance, because we don’t really know what it means to “change life”, nor do we wish to know. But it provides a temporary safety blanket for relief; a statement that perhaps we’re okay right now—except the insecurity and doubt remain strongly present in the backdrop of everything we do and say.

Avoidance is the source of most—if not all—problems that you invent/encounter throughout your life, as Joe Hudson pointed out here. It is the avoidance of experiencing a certain emotion(s) because you think you can’t handle it—the change that stems from it, the somatic (full-body) power of the sensation, the loss of perceived stability.

When you understand this, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.