The challenges of daily life, work, finances, relationships, and social obligations can become overwhelming quickly. Navigating complex emotions that you may not fully understand can result in frustration and anxiety. Many of us have learned about the basic emotions in our childhood, but many emotions have multiple levels or can coexist. Here are some tips to navigate emotional challenges and learn more about how your brain and body react to different situations.
The Emotion Iceberg
While many major emotions often are used to describe other emotions, there are actually underlying words that could better describe what you are feeling. For example, the top of an iceberg may not look that large, but there is often more ice below the water level, this also applies to emotions. We may label our emotions as “anger” but under the surface, there are other emotions like loneliness, depression, scared, jealousy, disappointment, fearful, or triggered.
1- Journaling Your Current Thoughts
When a major event occurs, someone wrongs you, or you are feeling overwhelmed you may have trouble articulating how you feel. Journaling or doing a brain dump can help clear your head and help you move forward with a rational mind. Some questions that you can ask yourself to help make journaling more effective include:
- What happened?
- What was the trigger or event?
- What did you feel?
- How did you react?
- Could your thoughts or behaviors have been different?
- How can you change your thoughts or reactions in the future?
A brain dump of scribbles, random words, and complaining can be just as beneficial as a structured journal prompt. Don’t restrict yourself when a challenge or life-changing situation has occurred.
2- Identify And Accept Your Emotions
The first step to better emotional regulation is to identify what emotion you are feeling. Even if you may not have a name for the emotion, writing down a few can help you come up with a new word or better understand how emotions can co-exist. Observing your emotions will also help you accept your current situation and be present. While emotions and anxiety can be overwhelming, they don’t last forever. Accepting and fully feeling the emotions will help you continue to move forward, despite a challenging situation.
3- Practice Mindfulness
Staying in the present moment is important to help navigate complex emotions. Mindfulness and meditation focus on breathing, noticing your physical sensations, and grounding yourself in the current moment. Mindfulness helps you create a space where you feel safe and provide you with control over your body.
4- Set Boundaries
Healthy boundaries will help protect you from family, friends, or situations that can cause you physical or emotional pain. Setting boundaries is important to emotional regulation and will help you limit unnecessary emotions from taking over your day-to-day life. While it is important to regulate your emotions when a challenging situation arises, frequent issues and repeated harm to you are a clear sign you should set boundaries.
5- Focus On Physical Activities
When our brain is clouded and emotions are heavy, participating in physical activities can help to clear this brain fog. Exercise, walking, or service can take your mind off of complex emotions while still helping you feel productive. Movement will bring relief over pent-up emotions and is a healthy way to let go of stress.
6- Remember Feelings Are Complex
After a world situation, financial stress, loss of a loved one, or lower mental health it is important to remember that it is normal to feel conflicting emotions. During a stressful time, it is ok to feel sadness over the specific situation, while also being happy about a text from a friend or time with family.
7- Don’t Forget Self-Compassion
Everyone should give themselves grace when they are experiencing grief, mental health issues, life changes, political unrest, or a tragedy in the community. Giving yourself compassion as you navigate what has changed or what you have lost is perfectly ok. While you will eventually need to move forward and face the future, taking a nap, taking some time off work, reaching out for help, or avoiding people for a short time is a great way to calm your brain.
8- Notice Patterns And Distortions
Life is stressful and could cause multiple instances of emotional distress. However, tracking your emotions and mental health will help you notice if these emotions are distortions. Some strong emotions in situations could be an indicator of mental illness. Noticing patterns and keeping track of instances that send you into a spiral can help you regulate emotions while in the situation.
9- Speak With A Professional
Depending on the severity of your emotions and how it affects your daily life, speaking with a therapist can help. Therapists are able to listen to all of your concerns so you can get them off your chest, but they also can provide coping strategies. Therapy will help you navigate situations with more grace and can help you understand why you may feel certain emotions. A quality therapist will validate your feelings, break down the situation, and provide you with tools to calmly handle a future situation.
