How to Control Your Emotions Before They Control You

14 Jun 2009

This guest post was contributed by Meredith Walker, who writes about the top nursing schools. She welcomes your feedback at MeredithWalker1983 at gmail.com. Make sure to give her a warm welcome and leave a comment below!

There are times when you wish you did not have emotions, when you would rather forgo the ability to feel rather than suffer the intense pain when your heart is being put through the wringer. Unfortunately, there is no getting around being human and being able to experience pain and pleasure. The trouble with pain of the emotional kind is that it cripples our ability to do anything else; a broken heart makes it impossible to concentrate on work or any other aspect of life.

What happens when a personal relationship crisis begins to affect your ability to focus on your work? What happens when you’re not able to give your best at the office because your mind is in turmoil over a break up or other a messy fight? We’re only human, so it’s natural to feel this way. What’s not natural however is to let emotions rule us for too long, and the only way to do this is to:

Fight to keep what you do have: You may be mentally upset because of a personal loss or problem, but if you let this dominate your thoughts and dictate your actions, you’re going to end up losing much more. If you stop working efficiently at your job, you’re at risk of being fired. Or if you run your own business, you lose concentration and let go of good deals. It will take a great deal of determination and will power, but if you apply yourself and think of all that is at stake, it’s easy enough to pull together.
Keep yourself busy: It may be clichéd, but an idle mind is definitely the devil’s workshop. The more time you have on your hands, the more you feel the need to agonize over and analyze what happened. Even if you don’t have enough work, create something for yourself to do. Go out, meet friends, and as much as possible, try not to wallow in self pity.
Exercise a little: If you’re a regular exercise buff, you’re bound to know that a workout session is the best way to boost your energy and get your adrenaline flowing. If not, now is a good time to get started. Exercise can make you feel better, both mentally and physically.
Stay positive: A bad experience or situation can get you down and make you lose interest in life. You need to make the extra effort to stay positive, and the only way you can do this is to look at all the things that are going well in your life. Alternatively, you could also take a look around you and think of others who are worse off than you. When you do this, you put things in perspective, and you’re able to feel better about yourself and your situation.

Happiness is something that we must look for within ourselves, because when we look for it from others, we leave ourselves open to disappointment and hurt.