When people say they want to be healthy, they focus on the things that make their bodies strong and well. We often forget that to be healthy, we also need to consider our mental and emotional health. Failure to keep your emotions in check only makes it difficult to manage stress. When you are constantly feeling stressed out, it becomes easier to submit to the bad habits, which won’t do your mind and body any good.
One reason many people fighting addiction tend to relapse is due to their inability to deal with negative and challenging emotions. It does not even matter if you graduated from rehab. If you keep hoarding negative feelings and always embrace challenging emotions, a setback is always a possibility.
This is one reason why a recovery integration process is crucial if you want to avoid relapse. There are sober living options for women and the gents wanting to increase their chances of staying sober after rehab. This is since one of the goals of a recovery integration process is to help individuals learn to manage negative emotions so that they won’t resort back to addiction.
Why Negative Emotions Are Not Always Bad
Negative emotions have a bad rep, and many people hate having to deal with anger, fear, disgust, and other emotions. But in reality, negative feelings and emotions are not bad all the time. These can be useful in many situations and be used to get past life’s most dangerous and traumatic experiences.
Fear, for instance, helps us by preparing and protecting us from danger. It signals us to be cautious, makes us focus more, and increases our concentration. It can help us identify options, analyze things, and dissect extremes.
We think that sadness does us nothing but put additional strain on our health. But there are times when sadness helps improve judgment, boost your memory, and even helps in motivating you to deal with life’s challenges. Sadness can even help people become nicer since when you are sad, you tend to pay more attention to external cues than rely on first impressions.
On the other hand, anger discharge has calming effects. It promotes survival, helps us improve our sense of control, and motivates us to solve problems. It can help us focus on our goals and can even help in safeguarding our values and beliefs.
Curbing Negative and Challenging Emotions
Keeping your emotional health in check can aid your quest to live a healthy lifestyle. There are a number of strategies you can try to balance negative and challenging emotions. Here are five of them.
Embrace Self-Awareness
The more aware you are of yourself, your mind, and your body, the easier it is to understand what makes you feel these negative emotions. Maybe you feel sad because you keep on focusing on the negatives. Perhaps you are angry after losing a game and knew you could have done things differently.
There could be times when you get upset because you tend to raise your expectations too high. Or maybe you are jealous because your friends are more successful than you are. Embracing self-awareness will help you identify the root cause of your negative emotions. You can make the necessary changes needed so that you can avoid future anger, disappointment, sadness, and fear.
Improve Self-Compassion
Some people have a knack for being the best support for their family, friends, and other loved ones. But when it comes to their own self, they tend to be their own biggest demotivator and their number one critic. It is time that you start understanding, loving, and supporting yourself more.
Start being kinder to yourself and offer the same support you have for others. Be your own best friend, and you will find it easier to extend kindness and compassion to others. This can help us fight many negative emotions and even reduce our anxiety and stress levels.
Practice Positivity with Care
We often hear other people say that positivity is the best way to cope with negative feelings. However, too much positivity can be toxic. It is crucial that you learn to address negative emotions instead of denying them.
Remind yourself that it is okay to feel angry, sad, anxious, or stressed out. Focus on what you can do to address these emotions instead of simply blocking them. If needed, seek support from people you can trust.
Negative emotions can sometimes be good. But embracing these too much won’t help you achieve your health and wellness goals. It is time that you start effectively managing negative and challenging emotions so you can optimize healthy living.
