Last update: October 15, 2017
Do we see the world as it is or how we perceive it? This question is very important, but at the same time it is very difficult for us to answer. When we are well, in fact, everything seems to be going well for us, while if one day we are sad, it seems that the whole world is against us. In the latter case, reality challenges us to make an effort. If things go wrong we must not let ourselves be overwhelmed by negative situations.
We know that in the end everything passes, that even the most complicated situation comes to a conclusion, that even behind the clouds of the worst storms the sun hides. Yet when we get carried away by negative situations, it seems that everything falls on us.
Unintentionally, we turn into very negative people, we think there is no way out and that it is all over. We are not able to see further and, consequently, we let ourselves be overwhelmed by our feelings, abandoning ourselves and letting the headwind make us lose much more than what we would have lost if we had resisted.
Let's not get carried away by the negative emotions generated by terrible situations. If we do, we will neither see nor take the way out.
Let us not be overwhelmed by negative situations
Feeling negative emotions is inevitable, just as it is inevitable to have to face events and circumstances that oppose our desires. These emotions have the role of making us focus on what is happening, of making us stop to reflect on the circumstances to find a solution. However, their adaptive function can end up being buried when emotions take over our actions and thoughts.
That's when that our thoughts become defeatists, making us throw in the towel and abandon those behaviors that serve to manage adverse winds to minimize the loss. In these cases, instead of taking the information that the emotion is trying to communicate to us, we let it transform into a sounding board that resonates in an insidious way, knocking down our mood ... and with it our strength.
When we find ourselves in a situation of this type, therefore, we don't double get carried away by our negative emotions. And we don't even have to fight them because they will never be our enemies if we treat them right. We simply have to draw information and energy from it. Accept that at that moment they are part of us and do not make them viruses that infect all our thoughts and behaviors.
As difficult as the situation is, there is always a way out. So let's not get carried away by what we are feeling, otherwise our perspective will be clouded by a thick fog.
Yes, in these moments it feels terrible. The partner left us and we think we will never meet anyone again. We have been fired and this seems like the straw that breaks the camel's back. They let us down and we think we shouldn't trust anyone anymore. All this is of no help to us, it limits us and prolongs a suffering and pain that we ourselves have embraced.
The importance of taking an emotional distance
Even if the black clouds that gather in our minds give us the feeling of suffocating and make us think that there is no hope, it is necessary to make an effort to distance ourselves emotionally from the situation we are experiencing. We don't see things clearly, so why not drift away a little?
Doing so will help us see the situation more clearly. We will gain a new perspective that will give us useful information to get out of the situation in which we are trapped.
But how can we take an emotional distance? We can start thinking about situations we have experienced in the past in which we have experienced similar feelings. We can do it, right? Furthermore, with the passage of time, we relativize the importance we had given to the adversities we have had to face.
"Life continues its path, do not get carried away by its destiny"
-Gabriela Mistral-
This will allow us to understand that the current situation is the same. Only the content has changed, but we'll get out of it again. It can also help to talk to another person and see how they react to what we are going through. Putting ourselves in someone else's shoes will help us see our negative situations from another perspective.
We must think that even if we are convinced that we have no power to change what is happening to us, this does not mean that we must let ourselves be overwhelmed. Sometimes it is necessary to swim against the current, especially when emotions occupy our view to the point that we can fall into a deep depression. No.Do not let ourselves be overwhelmed by events that we know we will be able to see in the future from a much less dramatic perspective.
