Do you ever find yourself:
- not sleeping, having restless moments in life where peace just constantly slips through your fingers?
- you have had an interaction with someone, and you feel uneasy? Was it something you said, or something you did not say?
- are you overthinking a situation, giving it too much energy, now you are in complete exhaustion and still have found no peace, resulting in sleepless nights, lack of productivity in your life and a lack luster for things that once brought you joy?
- feel like your brain is running at a constant 75mph.
It is also important here to understand something—these emotions are a lot of work and can be extremely exhausting. Although you may think to yourself, “What have I done to feel so tired?” You may be working twice as hard as someone doing physical labor and it is hard on your body.
Navigating life is a lot of work, then when we add a level of hard emotions on top of that, it can weigh down our ability to embrace and successfully manage our daily lives. We have now added a new dynamic into our daily life and what we have come to believe is our normal is now gone. When things that are not a usual part of our life or routine happen, we now must decide on what to do next. Here are some ways to help process those emotions so you can determine if you need to adjust your new normal:
Be Kind.
Give yourself a break and remember to be kind to yourself. Every person is unique and will need to allow themselves to take as much time to processing their thoughts and emotions. Do not feel rushed to just get through this. Take the time you need.
Find Healthy Ways.
How you process through some of these bigger emotions and feelings, or how can you better understand them is specific to you. What is the best way to deal with such heavy, overwhelming feelings? Do you have ways that have work well for you? It is important to take the time to find the tools that help you to better understand how you are feeling and what is causing these feelings.
Expectations.
Here is the truth of it all—you will never master all the emotions that life interjects, but you can find a way that will help you come to terms with what it is you are feeling and where those feelings are coming from. Knowing that we will continue to experience emotions daily will help us in learning how to process and live with those emotions.
Finding Tools.
It may sound a bit silly but find something repetitive that makes sense to you—vacuuming, wiping windows, walking, something that is easy and does not require much thought. It is all in the repetition, there is something soothing about doing the same thing repeatedly that helps our brains to relax, find clarity and helps us process through all the struggle that is in our mind.
Repetition.
It probably sounds a bit crazy but the correlation between our cleaning process and our emotional process is closely related. Think about times when you are in a place that is overcrowded, sweaty and hot, how does your body feel? Better yet how does your mind feel? It can be overwhelming, in those moments your body and mind are processing a lot, and what must happen for you to continue functioning.
Evaluate.
Now, think about a moment when you walk into a place that is clean and smells wonderful. How do you feel? Are your emotions heightened or minimal? How does your body feel, how does your mind feel? Although cleaning may not be the repetitive task you choose to do, keep this analogy in mind. You are essentially cleaning your emotions. Sometimes you are stuck on a thought for a long time, and you must consistently talk about it over and over and over again, until suddenly it makes sense. Much like a repetitive action, you must do it multiple times to see the results.
Here are some other healthy ways to de-clutter our emotions:
- Painting—take a class, or find some paints at a Dollar Tree, it does not have to be anything fancy just something that allows you to be interactive. Pick lots of colors, use your fingers, do what feels right, comforting. Being creative is a wonderful way to tap into other areas of our brains and to help us to exhale and relax.
- Put on a diffuser and sit somewhere—smell is a great way for you to get in touch with your emotions. Smells can also trigger peace, tranquility but be mindful of the scents you are choosing. Choose scents that are calming, or that encourages a good memory.
- Lay in the sun—naturally, the sun has great healing qualities, and the warmth can sometimes feel like the hug we all need.
- Write down little positive notes and stick them around the house—it can be the same thing or different quotes, but they must be uplifting and be on paper that you like.
- Find a local business that allows you to go pick some flowers, fruit, or vegetables. Go pick out something new that you would like to try—if you are picking flowers, pick an arrangement that you like and place it where you can see it first thing in the morning when you wake up.
- Write it all down—it may seem redundant, and it may be something you have heard constantly—sit somewhere and write, write it down, write down how you feel, how you do not feel, what you think, write it all down.
Emotions require maintenance and if we are not careful poor maintenance will leave us deficient, broken down. Your emotions should only ever be ruled by you and no one else. When we are able to understand that, even when we become emotionally overloaded, we can also understand that it is time to take a step back, breathe and be refocus.
You Are Worth It. Therapy can Help.
You are worth the time that it takes to understand and manage your emotions. You deserve the best that you have to offer and taking the time and maybe some of these tips you can exhale and focus on bringing a little more peace into your chaos. If this is something you would like help with, our therapists would love to walk alongside you as you do the work to bring more peace into your life. For more information, please see: https://upstaterestorativecounseling.com/