Three Tips for Emotional Stability When You Feel Fragile

With the holidays coming up, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. There’s a lot going on in the world already, so adding the pressure of spending time with family can increase stress. It’s easy with this combination to feel overwhelmed and fragile. Trying to figure out how to maintain emotional stability when you feel overwhelmed can be tricky.

In this blog post, I want to walk you through some tips you can use to prepare yourself so this situation doesn’t sneak up on you. It will also help you feel more confident going into the holidays having a plan or strategy.

Three Tips To Manage Stress and Overwhelm

1. Know your limits
2. Let yourself laugh
3. Take time to feel

Know Your Limits

It’s important to start off knowing your limits - what you can and cannot handle. Knowing your limits helps you set proper expectations and boundaries for yourself that you feel safe within. If you don’t know your limits or allow them to be stretched too far, you can find yourself feeling stressed and reactive. Knowing your limits will help with emotional stability.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get to know your limits better:

• Do I want to be doing this?
• If I do this, will I regret it?
• How long can I tolerate this event or spending time with this person?
• Is there anything about this that I do not want to be a part of?
• If I go, what will I need in order to be okay with it?

I know these questions are a bit vague, but they’re meant to be general enough that you can ask yourself them for any situation. They might not all resonate, but one of them might more than the others. Go with that one to guide you around setting limits.

I’ve written about boundaries before, and even have an eCourse on Healthy Boundaries. I won’t go into too much detail here, but boundaries are an important element in creating safety for yourself. Without them, it’s easy to feel exposed to things or people around you that can overwhelm. Consider making a strategy for yourself for those situations or people so you are prepared for them.

Let Yourself Laugh

Now that you know your limits and have a sense of protection, you can breathe a sigh of relief. This may seem counterintuitive but allowing yourself to laugh can be healthy protection. When you get overwhelmed, it’s easy to lose perspective because all you can see is the negative. However, allowing yourself to laugh can shift that perspective to see the whole picture and with some distance. Emotional stability is easier to maintain when you have a clear perspective on things.

In order to let yourself laugh, sometimes you have to set aside the heavy stuff to get space from it. Yes, it’s good to process through difficult feelings and situations. Putting it aside or zooming out to find the humor in life can help you to not take things too seriously. It also reminds you that the negative is not all there is.

Letting yourself laugh may also involve a little bit of work to find the positive or see things with a sense of humor. The words and actions people use can hurt, but being able to step back and laugh can ease the pain or take the sting out of it. This doesn’t minimize or erase the hurt; it just resets your perspective so you can regain your footing.

Take Time To Feel

This is the part you were probably anticipating I would start with, and probably what you were dreading the most. That’s probably for good reason. It’s the hard part, for sure.

If you’ve been able to set some limits for yourself and gain a new perspective, all that’s left to do is allow yourself time and space to feel. For many people, scheduling this is the key to success. Rather than letting it pop up unexpectedly, setting aside a specific time to feel emotions can be a safer strategy.

Here are some ideas:

• Go for a drive
• Turn on a movie or music
• Journal
• Talk with a friend
• Go for a run or exercise
• Take a bath

All of these things can create an environment of quiet and safety to help you feel your emotions. Some of those activities help get those emotions out, and some turn you inward more reflectively. Pick whatever resonates with you and give it a try. If you want help getting through, book an appointment to start counseling for anxiety in Tigard, OR.

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Learn More About Emotional Stability in Tigard, OR

Our team of skilled therapists specializes in treatment for anxiety and depression.  Contact us today to talk about how we can help you start feeling more productive and confident, or to schedule an appointment with one of our counselors. We offer both face-to-face (in-person) counseling sessions and online video counseling to residents in the state of Oregon.

More Therapy Services at Discover Counseling in Tigard, OR

Not only can we help with your anxiety and depression, but we can also help navigate these difficult life transitions. Especially, the grief and loss we are all feeling right now! This is an especially difficult time for engaged couples and couples on the brink of separation or divorce. Also, for pregnant, postpartum, and parenting couples. Basically, everyone is facing some type of stressor right now. Please let our therapists help you navigate this difficult time.