Venting

Almost every evening, I run the dishwasher. It's a simple procedure. I load it up with dirty dishes, using the space as efficiently as I can and need to, give it a soap packet, hook it up to the outlet and the faucet, and let it run. When it's done, I unhook it, open it up again, and let it vent. Instead of letting the steam and moisture sit in the dishwasher, I let it sit open and vent out. But venting steam is one thing; venting emotions is another.

There are some mixed opinions on the subject of venting emotions. Some say that it's helpful and that it lets you get negative emotions out of your system. Sometimes, I worry that "venting" causes some people to dwell on their negative emotions and cling to them longer than they need to.

I suppose how helpful venting is depends on the situation and on exactly how one "vents." Crying is almost always acceptable, but expressing anger through acts of force usually isn't. Venting also varies in usefulness based on how much emotion there is to vent. If there is little enough emotion that one can manage the emotion without venting, venting probably won't do much good. Venting is a release mechanism, useful for when there's a lot of steam at high pressure. When the pressure isn't that high and when there's not that much steam to let out, venting would probably be more detrimental than beneficial because it'd give you the downsides without the upsides.

So, if you need to vent, vent (though you should probably try to find a safe way to do that, like crying), but if you don't need to vent, don't vent (it'd only make the situation worse). It can be hard to tell whether venting is necessary and useful. Perhaps it's best to err on the side of venting. Depending on how you do it, letting out steam when there isn't much to let out isn't as harmful as trying to hold in too much steam for too long.

Venting is important, but it's important to know when and how to do it.