Emotions such as fear, anger and sadness take a toll when they hang on chronically. They cause stress that saps your energy. The Helpguide psychology website states that constantly feeling overwhelmed can cause muscle tension, lowered immunity, sleep disturbance, abnormal eating patterns and digestive ills. You can increase your emotional stamina and cut down on feelings that cause anxiety.
Step 1
Build up awareness of your emotions. Most people have feelings automatically without really being aware of them. Mentally pause yourself whenever you feel strong emotion and ask, "What specific feeling is this?" Many emotions are similar, so name the emotion specifically. For example, if you're frightened, clarify whether it's discomfort, anxiety, fear or terror.
Step 2
Ask yourself whether the emotion is appropriate for that specific situation. For example, terror is appropriate if there are tornadoes in the area and you live in a mobile home. It's out of proportion if there's just a mild thunderstorm.
Step 3
Ask yourself what else is feeding into an out-of-proportion reaction. Perhaps you had a bad experience in a storm when you were a child. Maybe you just had a fight with your spouse and your emotions are still running high, causing you to overreact to any situation.
Step 4
Redirect yourself to a more appropriate emotional reaction. Dr. William Fabian, a Washington, D.C., psychologist, explains that you cannot directly choose your emotions, but you can change your thought pattern that also influences your feelings. You can also purposefully choose to redirect your emotional energy into something more effective. For example, if you fear the storm, focus on logical thoughts of how unlikely it is to do any real damage. Redirect your energy into another activity, such as doing chores or reading an enjoyable book.
Step 5
Do your emotional check-ups regularly. You can even choose a mental image such as a red traffic light to stop yourself when you're experiencing an emotional surge. John Knapp, a social worker with Knapp Family Counseling, explains this as thought stopping. It will soon become natural to check your emotional reactions and lower them when appropriate. This will steadily build your emotional stamina because you won't be wasting energy on overreactions.
Tips and Warnings
- Implement stress management techniques into your daily routine. Helpguide recommends things such as yoga, physical exercise, deep breathing techniques and meditation. Stress impairs concentration, so you'll be able to monitor your thoughts more readily and have more emotional stamina if you keep it under control.
