In the current times, stress and anxiety – on both personal and professional fronts – have been skyrocketing. Issues with mental health is also known to take a toll on our physical health. While we are all encouraged to take care of ourselves, it is also incumbent upon corporates to enable all their associates to do so. Employee well-being is among the top priorities for most organizations now and rightfully so.
This is where Employee Assistance Programs prove to be valuable. Through workplace counseling, employees can resolve various issues and challenges. It can also help in their personal growth, learning and development. Through such initiatives, organizations can foster a culture of continuous learning, healthy competition, and high productivity.
Counseling helps us identify our emotions that might be the root of our issues and then assists us in managing it. In this article, we’ll discuss a few ways in which we can manage our emotions.
How do we manage emotions?
Dealing with emotions has always been tricky for most of us. Some prefer to process it in their own head before talking it out, whereas some prefer to talk it out to get it sorted in their own head. Often the way we manage our emotions varies from one situation to another. Though everyone has their own way of dealing with it, many times we ignore managing it at all. When we stop noticing it, is when we start accumulating the emotional load, which often weighs us down over a certain period. To avoid this from happening is why we really need to process them then and there.
When it comes to the first part of processing emotions, did you know that naming the emotions (which we hold inside) itself reduces the intensity of it? Yes, “Name it to tame it!” Research has also identified that naming an emotion remarkably reduces the intensity of the feelings which eventually helps us to deal with it better. It also makes it easier for us to make intentional choices paving the way to align our thoughts and emotions in the same direction.
Having said that, it brings us to the question of how to name it. Here is where we can apply a two-step process where we first need to differentiate and then identify the emotions felt. Often, we get confused with overlapping feelings and end up assuming it something else. One common example could be the mix of anger and sadness. Some people without knowing how to express their anger end up breaking down. Similarly, those who are hesitant to express their sadness might often cover it up with anger. Focusing a little more on how we feel deep down by pushing aside our existing assumptions and inhibitions helps us process it better.
Understanding what we hold inside can always be helpful for our own self to get started with the process of managing it. Once the first step is taken, we can then start to manage it. Coming to the second part of understanding how to deal with the emotions we hold inside, we can again see it as a two-step process.
First, we need to start accepting how we feel about the situation. Often, we might think we are very easy-going people who don’t take much to heart. But there might still be certain disturbances that we feel in certain situations. It doesn’t help us to move forward with managing the emotions (that are arise inside us) if we continue to be rigid about what we think about ourselves.
This is when we can try relaxing our rigid mindset and expand our understanding about our own self. This helps us in realizing, “Oh, maybe I am a little sensitive about certain things” and it is completely normal to have a few emotional triggers. We are all going through something or the other anyway. Accepting it is when we get ready to express it freely. Yes, so expressing it will be the second important part of emotional management. Here comes a couple of crucial questions: When to express? and How to express?
About when to express, it is more about the time a person requires to manage the intensity and analysis. For example, when a person is extremely angry, it is better that the person takes some time to analyze what happened and then communicate it to the respective person. The same can be applied to any emotion as well. Later comes the “how to express” part which is nothing but a clear communication where one says how it impacted the person, what could have been different and further moving forward, how it can be changed. In case the person doesn’t feel ready to express it directly to the respective person, we always have other options to express like journaling, empty chair, etc. It is also where therapy comes into play providing people with comfort and a free space to discuss and express. Hence, let us all start expressing how we feel as much as possible for a healthy emotional self.
Anyone associated with GS Lab | GAVS may reach out to Akshayaa at Akshayaa.s@gavstech.com and discuss their personal and professional challenges with her.
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