Hi Friend!

Recently, I was on a walk with a friend, and she said:

I heard her words and felt my own emotional energy rise, not only because I've been there but also because it's not just her. It's not just her team. It's not just me. This is everywhere right now.

In this current season, humans are carrying a staggering amount of emotions, and the emotional labor of everyday life feels like a lot. In many of my coaching calls these days, folks tell me that their mental whiteboards are full, that they have so many conflicting and high-energy emotions, it's easier to pretend they aren't there and just keep moving.

One foot in front of the other. One deep breath at a time. All while our fear, anger, confusion, frustration, and even joy bubble uncomfortably in our bellies, desperate for release.

Let me be clear: This is learned behavior.

We have been taught and conditioned (some of us more than others) to bury, swallow, ignore, and/or transform our emotions to remain palatable, to appear strong, to fit in, and to get ahead.

At first, suppression looks like coping or even success. If I had a penny for every person who told me how great I was doing while I was quietly and "valiantly" falling apart in my last role, I'd be rich.

But, when we suppress our emotions over time — sometimes over decades or generations — it creates a painful separation from ourselves. We often end up silencing our inner signals, overriding what our bodies are telling us, and questioning the very things that make us most human.

It becomes easier to armor up than to admit that we’re feeling anything, especially in low-trust workplaces that don't feel safe.

Leaders see the ripple effects:

• Teams go quiet.
• Folks who seem “fine” in meetings are crying or having panic attacks in bathrooms.
• People protect themselves by disengaging or feigning apathy.
• Conflict, resistance, and tension come out of nowhere.

Buried emotions don’t just vanish because we don't see them. They re-emerge and manifest in destructive patterns that threaten our work, our missions, and our people.

I truly believe that emotional suppression is both violent and traumatic. And in workplaces? Rewarding or encouraging emotional suppression doesn't build "professionalism" or calm; it causes harm. It is trauma-inducing and, yes, a form of violence we inflict on our people.

This is strong language, but I expect it resonates with some of you. Nobody wants to live or work split in two (or let's be real, split in ten). We crave wholeness and the ability to be human without fear of rejection, punishment, or being told we're being dramatic.

But we live in the world we live in, with people who know what they know, in systems that do what they do.

So where do we go from here?
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Build Trust-Positivity

Trust is the antidote. When we build our individual, collective, and systemic trust factors, we create the conditions for emotions to surface safely. Trust-positive environments make space for all feelings, even the hardest, most complex, and least pleasant ones.
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✨ If you know your team struggles to name or navigate emotions, or you want to strengthen your organization’s Compassion, Relationships, and Authenticity elements, let’s talk. We’ll co-create a project/initiative/experience that fits your people and your goals.

👉 Immediate first step: Reply to this email or book a connection call to explore together!
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If You're Burying Your Emotions

Notice the signals your body is sending, even if you're not yet ready to say them out loud or explicitly express them. Ask yourself: “What would I need to feel safe naming even a fraction of what I'm feeling?” Start there. Self-trust grows in tiny, courageous steps*.

✨ If you’re longing to feel whole again at work, to stop splitting yourself in two just to make it through the day, I’d be honored to walk with you.

👉 Immediate first step: Reply to this email or book a connection call to ask about our three-month Leadership Emotional Reset Coaching package (affectionately called “work therapy” by my clients), or express interest in our Q4 Emotional Labor of Leadership Mastermind for a community of peers doing this work together.

👉 A more passive option: Check out our ChatGMB episode answering "What do I do when I feel stuck?" by subscribing to our new private podcast.
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* Please keep yourself safe. If you do not exist in an environment where expressing yourself honestly is okay or acceptable, do not put yourself in harm's way. Consider other outlets and environments where it might be easier or safer to share your emotions.

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If You're Leading Others

Model humanity and healthy emotional expression. Share when you’re frustrated, tired, or hopeful. Make it clear that emotions aren’t liabilities but data. And when your people are courageous enough to share their feelings? Meet them with curiosity and care, rather than judgment or defensiveness. That’s how you build the kind of culture people don’t want to run away from.

And if you feel unprepared to navigate or address the big emotions of others, pleaes remember that that isn’t a personal failing—it’s a skill gap. And like any other leadership skill, it can be closed with deliberate training, practice, and support. One of our most popular workshops is "Navigating & Managing the Big Emotions of Self and Others"!

✨ If you want to cultivate this kind of leadership in yourself or your managers, I’d love to design something tailored to your context and needs.
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👉 Immediate first step: Reply to this email or book a connection call to explore leadership coaching, team workshops, or a custom training series that helps you develop leaders people trust and cultures where people feel safe enough to be themselves.

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If you are tired of holding it all together while quietly falling apart, tired of pretending to be “fine” when what you want most is to feel seen, steady, and whole, please know you are not alone. And I'm here for you even if you never purchase anything from me/Reloveution.

I want you to know that you and everyone you work with deserve a workplace (and life) where your emotions aren’t a threat and where your emotional honesty is met with compassion and understanding.

You also deserve space to process, express, and move through difficult and unpleasant emotions without the threat of retraumatization or harm. These are the kinds of spaces I create for humans and teams.

It's not about fixing you. It's not about fixing them. It's not about making anyone tougher or more/less of anything they are.

It's about partnering to create the trust, psychological safety, and other essential conditions that help people like YOU show up as their whole selves in environments that nurture, not suppress.

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If you are a leader who is already doing or striving to do this with your team and direct reports, thank you for your service. It matters so much.

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No matter who you are or where you are on your journey, I'm here to chat, collaborate, and serve.

In the meantime, scroll down below my signature for upcoming public opportunities to engage with Reloveution.

Always cheering you on,
Marissa

Upcoming Opportunities

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Special Panel: Intergenerational Wisdom - Learning from Seasoned Changemakers​
Friday, September 12 | 12:00-1:30pm ET
​Join us to honor the wisdom of five seasoned changemakers who have dedicated their lives to justice and community care. Leave with stories, insights, and inspiration for staying grounded, intentional, and in the work for the long haul.
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​Learn More and Register​

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​Annual Reloveution Retreat - ONE Spot Left​​
​September 18/19-21 | Stony Point, NY
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Join fifteen other amazing humans in a beautiful setting to pause, recharge, and reconnect with purpose, both as professionals and as human beings. You'll get the opportunity to flex your creativity and explore pathways for presence and peace in times "like these." You deserve this kind of intentional and magical space!
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​Learn More & Register​

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​Millennial Mastermind: Navigating the Emotional Labor of Leadership​
October - December 2025 | Online
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We're considering opening our Q4 Millennial Manager Collective Mastermind to non-community members. This will be four ninety-minute sessions between October and December, and will be focused on helping participants build the skills, mindsets, and community they need to manage the often invisible work of holding others, balancing empathy with accountability, and managing the stress, conflict, and ambiguity that come with leadership roles.
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​Millennials are the generation of people born approximately 1981-1996, but we’re not collecting birth certificates. If you are an older Gen Zer or a younger Gen Xer who needs this, you are welcome.
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​Express Interest Here​

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​Join the Millennial Manager Collective BEFORE the price goes up in 2026​​
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​If you've been on the fence about joining MMC, this is your last chance to join before we update our membership model and increase prices in January. If you're looking for a community of peers who truly understand the challenges of managing in today’s world, practical tools you can use right away with your team, and honest conversations that make you feel less alone in leadership (and life), now is the time to jump in.​Inside the Collective, you’ll find monthly community circles, live learning labs on topics you care about, a private Slack community, and access to exclusive resources designed to help you grow as a manager without burning out.
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Learn more at https://www.truereloveution.com/millennialmanagercollective.
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​The deadline to join our October cohort is September 23.