I have always been a very emotional person and that is something I am not ashamed of. I take pride in my ability to experience emotions at such a deep level. However, it is safe to say that I feel like these emotions can get in the way of everything in my life. They take over my ability to think clearly and get things done. This is normal and it just requires us to learn how to manage the emotions in a healthy way. I have found specific ways that help me deal with the emotions that I struggle with the most, and I want to share them with anyone who is like me and has trouble with letting their emotions take over everything in their life!
Lonely
As an extrovert, it is very easy for me to feel lonely. This emotion leads to overthinking about my personal relationships and can in turn make me feel bad about myself. When I sense this start to happen, I immediately call up a trusted person in my life and chat. Sometimes I will take it as far as asking them to get some coffee or lunch – feeling lonely is not the same as being lonely and our minds try to trick us with this all the time. You have people that care about you and it’s important to remember this! However, I do understand that maybe sometimes you don’t necessarily want to carry a conversation or hang with someone, you just don’t want to be alone – I get it! When this happens to me, I find it helps me the most to go to my favorite store, coffee shop, park, anywhere where there are people, but not necessarily any people that you know or that you must talk to – you’re just… not alone.
Unworthy
This is an emotion that hits me like a TRUCK. I find myself feeling unworthy a lot more than I’d like to admit and it greatly affects my work, my relationships, and just brings my vibrations down. Over time though, I have learned that the best way for me to cope with this is expressing gratitude. Hear me out, okay? I know everyone always says that, but get out of your room, bring your laptop or a paper and pen. Write down ten things you are grateful that your body does for you automatically, and see how fast you start to realize just how much you are worthy of.
Overwhelmed
Being a full-time college student who is immersed in extracurriculars and works part-time, you can imagine how easy it is to start feeling overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed can feel like everything is crashing down on you all at once to the point where one can sometimes struggle to breathe – literally. I find that when this happens, I used to let it keep going to the point where I was physically and mentally burnt out and would just stop trying in everything in my life, which is not good, obviously. To combat this, I sit down wherever I feel most productive, take a couple deep breaths, and write out a to do list. It gets my thoughts in order and allows me to figure out which tasks need immediate attention and which tasks can wait a bit. Which tasks will take you the longest and which ones can you finish right away? Doing this helps put things into perspective. When we are stressed and overwhelmed, our mind likes to play tricks on us and makes things look and feel a lot worse than they actually are.
Don’t ever let anyone make you feel bad for your emotions – own it! Keep in mind, learning to cope with your strong emotions is a lot of trial and error, what works for some may not work for you, but don’t let that discourage you! Actively working to make your life better is something you should be proud of, no matter how long it takes you.