Following on from my previous posts as to why people are finding it a challenge to get through each day in our new world, it seems that many people are truly struggling at the moment. A quick glimpse at social media will reveal that people are so frustrated currently and this is emerging outwardly as anger. No one is immune it seems.
Let's be honest, life as we once knew it seemed much easier than it is right now. When things went wrong we had the ability to resolve, delete, refund, absorb, or just move on. No longer is this the case. We tend to (over) react these days because our emotions are frayed and fragile.
Everyone is tired, tired of being tired, so tired that we now tend to focus on the negative in an attempt to make our life better. The quick fix if you like. The reason, we have a negativity bias, a leaning towards the danger. Focusing on the danger is how we once overcame our problems, fixing what's broken by working on the negative aspect.
The problem is, nothing is broken, it's just different to what we are accustomed to. There's nothing to fix except ourselves. We can fix ourselves by finding the positives in what we get annoyed with. I know, it does sound kind of trite, right? Then what do you have to lose by trying, except getting more tired!
Let's start with the easy things you can do to focus on the positives;
At least.... Start each sentence with "At least" and fill in the rest. Come up with as many sentences as possible. Do it with someone else and see how far you can take it. Get clever, get funny, get to the extreme.
Examine the parts - Write a list of what happened and examine each stage to see if you could have done something different, the smallest of things.
Resolve - Look at what you can do now about the situation. There's always something, even if it is not getting involved in the same situation again. Next, work on resolving the issue in as many ways as possible.
Keep it to yourself - There's no need to let the world know about your issue unless you are genuinely asking for help or support. Expressing how we feel to the world might cause us additional issues.
Move on - This is one that I once struggled with, not so much these days. It's about understanding our emotions so read on below....
Emotions have to come out, they must, otherwise they fester like a boil (apologies if you were eating while reading this). There are many ways to get emotions out, to let them go;
Physical exercise - A 30-minute walk is enough to burn off adrenaline and cortisol and dump the feel-good endorphins into our brain. A punch bag also works well!
Feel them - Sit and focus for five minutes on how you feel and what you are experiencing. Get angry, get annoyed, get frustrated, get whatever it takes to explore them all and feel the different sensations until you either run out or the five minutes is up.
Screaming as loud as you can - Always scream into a pillow otherwise you may frighten the neighbours and then you have more issues to deal with.
Writing - Writing gets the frustration out of your head and onto paper. Then tear, burn, or otherwise destroy the paper and the expressed emotions along with it.
Talking - Saving the best for last, talking with others to not only express how we are feeling but also to get ideas about what we can do about our situation.
If you are after a deeper level for finding the positives, get a notebook and write down as many things as you can that made you smile, that you did for someone else, that you are grateful for, that you enjoyed doing, that... Look for as many positives as you can each day across the day.
If none of these suggestions work then chances are you are in desperate need of some quality time out, some alone time. Time out from everything and everyone. Spending just 30 minutes a day alone doing something that you get completely lost in works wonders for your spiritual self. Art, music, reading, movies, whatever your choice might be. Go on, get lost!
There is so much uncertainty in the world causing so much anxiety causing so much anger that the world feels a bit wobbly. Doing nothing about the negative emotions is no longer an option. Taking positive action is the way forward.
Let's talk!