What Is Emotional Reactivity?
The human experience is not complete without emotions, a fundamental part. Emotional Reactivity We cry, laugh, smile, grieve, and yell all these things because of our feelings. Emotional Reactivity It is the emotions behind fictional stories that make them so fascinating . Emotional Reactivity If you have not shed a tear at the death of a fictional character, then you have never experienced peak fiction.
The following paragraphs are dedicated to Brigadier General Maes Hughes, Portgas D. Ace, Jiraiya Sensei, Kamina, and every other GOAT we have lost along the way .Emotional Reactivity All this is to say that emotions aren’t always destructive, but they can cause great harm when we react to them instead of coping with them. Emotional Reactivity We will share a few tips with you so that you can learn how to stop reacting emotionally and start responding emotionally instead.
How Does Emotional Reactivity Affect Your Life?
Having an emotional reaction, as the term self-explains, means reacting to our internal emotional state or state of being in a way that affects our emotional state. Reactivity is usually thought of as a cycle where you feel an emotion, react to that emotion, go into fight or flight mode, and then make a decision based on survival factors.
It has been found that emotional reactions result in impulsive decision-making, which is not of long-term benefit to us due to impulsive behavior. This cycle of reactivity is further exacerbated when you must make hasty survival decisions about your physical life to survive. I don’t know about you, but for me, more stress doesn’t make it easier to cope with my day-to-day life.
How Can Emotional Responsiveness Be Improved?
Emotional responsiveness is defined as allowing ourselves to feel our emotions, naming them, looking at them as something separate from ourselves, and responding to them rather than allowing them to drive our decisions and behavior in their desired direction.
Taking control over your emotions is the key to letting them affect how you live your life, how you react to things, and how you live your life in general, rather than allowing them to dictate how you act and behave. It seems easy enough on paper, but use R.A.I.N. as a guide when in doubt.
- Be aware of your emotions
- Accept the experience, don’t correct
- Feelings should be investigated, not judged
- Give yourself self-love/encouragement
Struggles Are Human
The emotions I feel daily are not something I feel very deeply. My emotional rollercoaster has come to a stop. There are good and bad days, but things are not so bad that they quickly make me angry or sad. It’s not like I’m one to cry over minor inconveniences like you might find in some people’s cases. There is nothing superior about me. I am just different from those who react to things in the way I do.
However, I am incredibly anxious about my future. The amount of time I spend overthinking every aspect of my life is such that I stay up well past bedtime most nights. The fear of living my life to the fullest used to control me. The fear of tearing my A.C.L. for the third time, fear of failure, fear of not being good enough, and fear of disappointing my mom consumed me and caused me to fear failure, and failure led me to do everything I was supposed to do.
I have always found this quote to be one of my favorites. It goes like this, “I must not fear. The mind is the most powerful killer when it comes to fear. Fear is a small death that will lead to the total obliteration of the individual. It is up to me to face my fear.
It will be okay if it passes over and through me. I will turn my inner eye to see its path once it has passed, and when that has happened, I will turn it shut. There will be nothing left where the fear has gone.
The only thing that will remain is I” from Saurav Kant. I am a proud owner of a tattoo of the first sentence on the upper part of my right forearm. My life should not be dictated by my emotions or fear but rather by my ability to control them. To become emotionally responsive, I learned to become aware of my emotional state instead of allowing fear to drive me to emotional reactivity.
Fear interrupts the brain processes in the brain, affecting our thinking, decision-making, and spontaneous reactions, causing us to make impulsive decisions. Don’t be afraid to trust me. It’s hard to follow your gut and think things through when fear is playing the irrational devil on your shoulder while you try to follow your gut instincts.
It took some time and effort for me to learn how to stop being emotionally reactive, but it has made all the difference in my life in the long run.
Emotional Reactivity Tips To Stop You From Being Emotionally Reactive
1. It is essential to take a moment and pause before you emotionally react to something. Take this moment to reflect on the situation. There is no question that you can train your brain to do this as a reaction to intense emotional feelings, but it will, at first, be challenging.
2. It is always our bodies that react in some way when we feel emotions, no matter: whether our hearts beat faster, our hands sweat a little bit (mom’s spaghetti? ), we clench off the stomach, or perhaps we start to fidget. If you pay attention to your body’s reaction to intense emotions, you will not be overwhelmed by your normal biological responses when faced with intense emotions.
3. The first thing I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed is to take a few deep breaths to help me deal with it. Taking deep breaths can trick our brains into sending safety signals to make us feel safe. It also enables you to relax your body when you are in a state of tension.
4. This is one of the most challenging things for me to do. Please don’t hold back any emotions; let them all go. Go to the gym, shake your body, walk around, and let out all the pent-up energy building up inside. All of these activities help rebalance your nervous system, whether you move, cry, or release it in any way.
5. The best approach to dealing with emotional situations is to react rather than react impulsively. Sometimes you need space to mull over your options before you move.
