Get Off The Emotional Roller Coaster

During turbulent times in life, emotions can  seem to go in and out of control.  Difficult emotions- anger, sadness, frustration, anxiousness, and apathy are not uncommon.  If fact, they are downright normal.

When you are going through a major transition it’s common to be encouraged one day and discouraged the next.  You can feel hopeful and hopeless with one phone call, email, or conversation.  You can  feel fearful or courageous all in the matter of a moment.  This up and down, back and forth process, though normal, is not helpful.   If you want to get off the emotional roller coaster, you have to control your thoughts.

My good friend, Shaun Goodsell of The Mental Edge,  sums it up this way, “Your mind either works for you or it works against you”. What you think about; what you focus on, sets your emotions on a course that can either improve your situation or hinder your progress.  Here are some concepts that I have found helpful.

• What you think about affects how you feel. Think about depressing things and you’ll get depressed. Think that you have no control and you’ll feel helpless and weak.  Think that you are talented and you’ll feel confident.

• What you think about affects how you will act. Think that you are too old and you’ll act too old. Think that no one will hire you and you’ll act like someone who’s undesirable.  Think like a professional  and you’ll act like the expert you are.

• Put your current situation into a broader context. You’ve  been through difficult times before and you’ve survived. You’ll make it through this one too.  This is a moment in time and one day it will pass and it will be part of your history.

• Act regardless of how you feel . The problem with acting based on how you feel is that you stop working when you’re discouraged. It hurts your momentum.  Do the activities that will lead to your next job even on days you don’t feel like it.

• Act with confidence, don’t wait to feel confident. If you are struggling with confidence act as if you are confident. It’s really difficult to act like a confident person and not end up feeling confident in the end.

Turbulent times are part of life.  Get off the emotional roller coaster and keep moving forward.

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