Do We Know How To Handle Our Emotions?

From a young age, we've been taught that the less emotional you are, the better.

We're told that being too angry or sad or fed up is childish, and that adults don't deal with emotional difficulties that way. This isn't necessarily wrong, but that doesn't mean that the way we do handle ourselves is right. Granted, many people want to avoid having meltdowns in public, but that doesn't mean you should never have an outlet for what's getting you upset.

When you don't let your emotions out, all you're doing is suppressing them. They don't go away, and usually they aren't converted into a different or better emotion later on. Over time, these unreleased emotions can be harmful. A study done by the American Psychology Assocation found that those who frequently bottled up their emotions had more anger- and fear-based dreams than those who did it less often. They also had more difficulty falling asleep and staying awake during the day. Their levels of anxiety and depression were also higher on average.

So what's the solution? The first step is accepting that it isn't bad or wrong to experience negative emotions. They're a part of life and deserve to be felt just as much as the positive ones. Another way to curb the effect that suppressing emotions can have is improving your sleep conditions--leave your devices across the room (or in another room entirely) and make sure there's less light coming in through your windows or doors at night. Exercises like journaling (even if it's just a page or two per day) and meditation can also help greatly to reduce stress, express yourself, and distance yourself from the source of these negative emotions. If all else fails, use these feelings as motivation to get more accomplished--personally, if someone tells me I can't do something, I get very spiteful and that motivates me to do whatever task they said I couldn't do better than even I thought I could do it.

Just remember, we're humans, not robots, and as much as we like to think we're impervious to emotional attacks, we're actually sensitive beings. Letting negative emotions like anger and stress build up is only harmful in the long term. Allow yourself to feel your feelings, and you might see more benefits than drawbacks!