Walking on egg shells

Ever felt the tension in your gut often described as walking on egg shells? It comes from having been closely linked and involved with a person who has had an impact on our will power. They may have frequently disapproved of our choices, or belittled them. They may have criticised our freedom to think and act for ourselves too many times. They may have used their own upsets as a way to invite us to behave differently.

Walking on egg shells is the description for a sensation that sits often just under the rib cage in the belly. It’s a creeping feeling of tension and upset that comes when we are responding to a situation beyond our control and where we are dealing with a person who is trying to change how we are in order to meet their needs, and who does not have our best interests of freedom to think and feel and act at heart.

As children, this feeling can be instilled and can become a pattern across life. As adults, it can come when we have an intimate partner who is demanding or sulky and we can often feel that we need to change somehow in order to keep the relationship alive.

Feeling and listening to the egg shell tension can be one place to start to explore the health of our relationship.