Emotional Self Care

By Joan Pickett, LPC

Joan Pickett, LPC

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Emotional Self Care

The difficulties of everyday life can often be overwhelming, even when there is no crisis happening. When a crisis does occur it takes every bit of our emotional strength to handle it. And yet there is something in us that reaches out whenever we see a crisis happening to someone else.

Take for example the feeling we get when we pass a bad car accident. Our heart may beat faster. For a time we can be very concerned about the people who were involved, hoping that they have survived. Or when a friend's child becomes ill or even dies.

These situations can literally take over our lives for weeks or even months as we try to find ways to be helpful while dealing with our own shock and compassion. Happenings like this remind us of the fragility of life and the feeling of helplessness which arise in the face of such a thing. Our own sadness and anxiety are deeply aroused, putting stress on us and on our families.

However these are things, which have come to our doorstep. We didn't seek them out. But imagine the power of TV and radio and all the other devices we have to bring news of the world to us, with horrifying examples of disasters and man's inhumanity to man.

These disasters are such that because of their location, often on the other side of the world, we are left with a feeling of helplessness. Sometimes there is a way to send a little aid, but usually this is nowhere near enough to really help. We don't understand the events and culture surrounding these issues. We just feel sad or horrified and angry.

These feelings take a physical toll on us. And because many of us watch and listen for several hours a day (to the delight of the media which are only too happy to accommodate our endless curiosity), our emotional mechanisms must adjust to this bombardment; stories of death and torture and kidnapping become our daily fare.

But this kind of emotional beating is one thing we can do something about. In addition to our healthy diets and exercise to keep our physical and emotional well being we can become aware of the emotions we feel while watching and listening, and begin to limit our intake of toxic news.

If we go out of doors and just breathe or take a walk, or ask the people around us how they are doing, our emotions can reset to a more normal level. Our own lives can come back into focus and the parts of our brain that are there to help us deal with our own lives can rest and be strong and available when we need them for ourselves and those around us.