Have you wondered why you are being advised not to talk or make decisions when angry or sad? Have you ever been in the condition that you say something when you are angry, and later when you become okay, you begin to regret speaking at that moment? This is because emotions affect our daily lives.
Uncomfortable emotions such as anxiety, pain, anger, disappointment, and sadness tend to affect your mental health by reducing your alertness, concentration, and memory patterns and influencing your social and work life.
So you must learn healthy ways to deal with uncomfortable emotions immediately after they arise. When you leave them to linger, they may degenerate into something worse, like depression, and can lead you to self-harm or substance abuse.
Below are the healthy ways you can implement immediately to help you deal with uncomfortable emotions.
5 Healthy Ways to Deal with Uncomfortable Emotions
Below are some healthy ways to deal with uncomfortable emotions that may be troubling you.
1. Identify and label the uncomfortable emotions
A 2007 brain imaging study shows the benefits of labeling emotions. Uncomfortable emotions come in various forms. So it is crucial you identify and label them, as this will help you know the particular type and intensity. As the saying goes, “when a problem is discovered, it is half solved.”
Some of the labeled uncomfortable emotions are:
- Pain – This can result when any of your friends betray or grieve you or why you intentionally hurt those you love. It can also be a form mistake that you made that cause an unpleasant experience at work or home. You tend to feel pain and withdraw into your shells.
- Frustration – This uncomfortable emotion can be because of the inability to achieve something.
- Anger – This can arise when you are being treated unjustly either at home or work. Anger can also occur when you are offended and are refused justice.
- Disappointment – This can arise when you plan for something that does not go as well planned. You tend to get disappointed and sad.
- Anxiety – This may arise from worries about the future, a sense of hopelessness or fear of not reaching a certain standard, and so many more.
After labeling the emotions, do evaluate them. Do not beat yourself if you are the cause. Understand that you are human and bound to make mistakes. Own your mistakes and go on. If you are being offended by a third party, talk to them and learn how to forgive them. You can try talking to a therapist or counselor if the pain is intense.
2. Try out lifestyle medicine
Lifestyle medicine refers to life habits that help to boost your physiological health. Lifestyle medicine remains one of the healthiest ways to deal with uncomfortable emotions.
Lifestyle medicine comprises:
- Exercise/active living
- Eating right
- Emotional regulation
- Meditation
- Weight management
Exercise regularly helps you to deal with emotional pain from betrayal, divorce, or whatever. Excessive weight is one increasing cause of sadness among teenage girls, and it has been found that girls who are not too big are more confident and happy than girls who are – this is why weight management should be incorporated into your daily life.
Meditation, such as yoga, has been proved to be effective in helping individuals release their pains and experience rebirth in their soul and mind, which does amazing wonders in helping to deal with the pain of the heart, anxiety, and depression.
For lifestyle medicine to be effective, it must be well guided. For guided lifestyle medicine, consult a yoga fitness coach, behaviorist therapist, or dietician.
3. Laughter and sense of humor
Research has shown that experience of humor is linked to reduced emotional pain in humans as it takes their mind off it and allows them to bond with those.”
Laughing doesn’t mean you neglect the pain, but it is seeking deep down the medicine to soothe your soul. Humor has been used for therapeutic issues over the years, and the result is usually fantastic.
Also, studies have proved that humor helps increase physical pain tolerance, relieves psychological pain, and prevents negative thoughts from building up. It gives you a sense of optimism.
This is why you are always advised to go for a vacation, attend comic shoes and cats, and visit amusement parks and sites anytime you are down with uncomfortable emotions. This is absolutely a natural way of dealing with those uncomfortable thoughts.
5. Talk to someone
One of the healthy ways to deal with uncomfortable emotions is to talk to someone about how you are feeling.
By having an open conversation with someone you trust about your feelings, it helps you to process them and look at them from a different perspective.
In addition, it helps you get advice on how to deal with the uncomfortable emotion.
5. Consult a therapist
This should be your last option. If it grows beyond what you can handle, you should immediately consult a therapist for help.
Conclusion
Staying positive and exercising positive habits is a great way to stay above negative thoughts. Invest your energy into positive vibes, practices, and energy.
Anytime you feel you need help, do talk, and don’t buckle it inside. Adhering to these healthy ways to deal with uncomfortable emotions can help you feel much better.
