What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

To answer this question, we need to consider what negative feelings are.

The most common negative emotions are:

• Anger
• Frustration
• Sadness
• Loneliness

We live in a world where everything is fast-paced and there is no time for us to take a minute to figure out how we feel. This allows negative emotions to fester and in some cases, can lead to troubling results such as depression, violent/emotional outbursts, anxiety, panic attacks, fatigue, mental exhaustion, brain fog and so on.

My strategies are writing things down, trying to combat overthinking with positive tasks and sleeping on minor issues. Writing my thoughts and feelings allows me to clear my head and see situations differently, particularly if the issue has stemmed from an argument. While it can be tempting to ignore emotions, I always feel better once I can express myself. This can include issues at work, or with friends. Keeping a written log of certain events and briefly detailing how they made me feel helps me process my overall emotional state.

There are various other strategies. According to this John Hopkins guide for caregivers, the best ones are:

• Taking responsibility for your emotions
• Avoiding toxic people
• Acknowledge that your feelings are valid
• Identify the source of your emotions
• Express your emotions

I think the most important thing to do is to accept that we will always have some negative emotions. It is what makes us human. However, it is not necessary to feed into these emotions all the time. Dealing with them as they arise makes it possible to remain positive and enjoy a sense of contentedness (if not happiness!).

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Sources:

Handling my negative feelings

Recognizing and Coping with Negative Emotions