Different Ways to Gain Control Over Your Emotions

You thought you could just keep your emotions in check and never let them get the better of you, right?

Well, let's be honest: that isn't always possible. Sometimes emotions get the best of us no matter how hard we try. That's why it's important to have some strategies on hand for when things get tough—and they will get tough! And if those strategies don't work? Well, that's when we need to find new ones.
 
So here are some tips for controlling your emotions:

Examine your feelings.

Sometimes our emotions can feel like they're out of control because they aren't attached to anything in particular—they're just there as a general feeling of sadness or anger or whatever else it is we're going through at the moment. But if we examine those feelings, then we can ask ourselves "why am I experiencing this?" Once we know why we're feeling something, then it's easier to move on from it and find peace again.

Related: How To Process Your Emotions in Healthy, Productive Ways

Take a deep breath:

This is a great way to calm down and get yourself back under control. It may seem simple, but there's something about breathing deeply into your diaphragm that helps reset your brain and calm down those frantic feelings that might be taking over.

Write down what's bothering you.

This is the first step to controlling your emotions: acknowledging them in writing before you try to deal with them. It helps put things into perspective and makes them seem less overwhelming than they might have felt before writing them down!

Related: 4 Easy Exercises That Will Help You Manage Your Emotions

Take time to think before acting:

Your feelings can cause you to act without thinking, which can lead to making rash decisions or saying things out loud that you wish you hadn't said. The best way to avoid this is by taking a moment before reacting—even if it's just five seconds!

Remind yourself that it's not personal:

When something goes wrong at work or with a friend or family member, sometimes our first reaction is to blame ourselves for everything that went wrong. This isn't necessarily true! Just because someone was rude doesn't mean that person was trying to be mean—it could just be part of their personality.

Related: From Burnout to Breakthrough: Nurturing Productivity through Self-Care