Tiffany's Emotional Check-In (Blog 1)

 

Have you ever been in a situation where you feel overwhelmed. In such a way that you feel a knot In your throat, tension in your shoulders, clinching of your fist or teeth . Your body then responds to this episode by body aches tensed muscles in your back, shoulders , neck or even a headache.  Why does this happen? Most of the time it's because you are holding something in. Now what I mean by this is, you are holding in frustration, disappointment, anger etc. when you do this your body can respond in many different ways as explained earlier, tense muscles or headaches. So in order to not allow yourself to feel and experience these reactions the best thing to do is not hold them in, 'easier said than done of course'. I used to watch this show back in the day and on one episode the therapist told her client she needed to , relax, relate, release!!! That's what needs to happen , you need to first relax by taking deep breaths or possibly simply removing yourself from the stressful environment, relate- attempt to process what in the situation truly relates to you to better process and possibly work towards changing the situation in a positive and productive way, then release- now I do not mean to fight or retaliate towards another individual (i.e. adults, children or animals), but in a calm and non- physical way address the issue at hand then release it.

 

If you want to not be at an emotional overload level you must relax, relate, and release the emotions in a healthy and safe (non-threatening way towards another person) way!!

 

Other helpful ways to release pent-up emotions ; excercise , picking up a fun hobby, running, painting, coloring( like when we were children and had not a care in the world - I'll talk more about this in a later blog), or meeting with a mental health professional regularly for guidance. 

 

Share with me some ways in which you are able to relax and stay clear of emotional overload?!

 

~Tiffany Chen, MA, LPC-Intern, NCC