How To Handle Irrational Emotions

Since we're all human, there are times when we get upset by things that aren't really worth getting upset over. I know that I especially get irrationally upset more often than I'm willing to admit. It's hard to control your emotions, especially when you're a stressed out teenager who's dangerously close to graduating and going to college.

I've been thinking about how I get sometimes when I'm irrationally annoyed or self-conscious and I realize that if I had just gotten over myself that situation would've gotten so much better or I could've had fun.

The biggest problems with irrational emotions are acting on impulse and being too prideful to admit that you had no real reason to get upset.

Acting on impulse is a given; let's say someone eats something, not knowing it was yours and you were excited to eat it all day. Then you realize that they ate it and your first response is to get upset and yell at them over it. This causes unnecessary tension and awkwardness for the both of you. It's not like they ate the food to intentionally upset you; they were just hungry and so they ate it.

That may not be the best example, but you get the point. If you had just stopped to think about the situation before you yelled, things wouldn't have been so uncomfortable. Once you calm down and realize that they didn't know, approach them and ask them not to do it again. Learn from the small incident and talk to them to keep it from happening again.

Pride is a huge reason why irrational emotions can ruin situations. Once you've gotten mad and yelled at someone for something minor, or once you've gotten annoyed by something tiny and stayed irritable and pouty for the rest of the day, other people see that you're upset. They may or may not know what upset you and will most likely ask or get mad at you for getting so upset over such a little thing.

Pride keeps you from admitting that you're sorry for getting so upset or that you had no real reason to be angry or annoyed.

These are things I need to keep in mind as well, so I can be slower to anger and more reasonable when things upset me. So be sure to consider the other side of the situation and not act on impulse. And if you do, don't be too prideful to apologize or admit that you were in the wrong. Life is too short to get upset over tiny things, so try to control those irrational emotions~