The online definition is:
avoid [uh-void] verb. keep clear of; stay away from; keep out of the way of someone or something.
This tells me that anytime we successfully avoid something, we create 'a void' - a space between us and that thing. This is fine when we want to dodge a nosy neighbor, or prevent something potentially dangerous from occurring, but what happens when we seek to avoid our own feelings?
Life is about living, which means feeling everything - the highs, lows and in betweens. It's about surfing the waves of life the best we can, and being able to savor the highs, because we allowed ourselves to fully feel the contrasting lows. It's how we learn, grow and become wiser. It's how we expand and become more and more conscious, which if I'm not mistaken is a big part of why we're here. However, when we attempt to sidestep feelings we don't want to feel, by reaching for things externally to help ourselves feel better (drugs, food, alcohol, social media, shopping, etc), it only makes matters worst, causing 'a void' that keeps widening between us and life itself.
Like I mention in my first book,
it's not about feeling better, it's about getting better at feeling.The things we reach for in our attempt to feel better are simply void-fillers that often become addictions if we continue down this path. This downward spiral increases our sense of emptiness, until the gap widens so greatly that our lives become entirely 'devoid' of meaning.
Of course, we always have the power to turn things around. We do this by confronting whatever it is we've been evading; by feeling whatever it is we've been running away from. We do it by dumping the vase, dropping the baggage, taking out the trash and filling the emptiness with a whole lotta self-love. As we lessen our load and allow ourselves to feel again, we become lighter, more mindful, more present, more alive!