There are many ways to emotionally insulate yourself from the blows that life sends you.The suggested strategies can help you to cope when life gets tough. Of course, there is no magic bullet (If I knew that I’d be a billionaire) but these strategies can help to get through when you need to emotionally insulate yourself.
Focus on what you can control
You can’t control how others think or what they do. All your power and focus lies in how you want to see the world around you and how you react.
Manage your expectations
Be careful about predicting the future. We do this in order to try anticipate future problems. It’s a human behaviour that we all engage in to feel in control. We can’t predict what wil happen. Do your problem solving and prepare but then get back to living in the moment.
Don’t overthink it
When we feel stressed out, we tend to over analyse things. Have you ever heard of the saying “Analysis paralysis”. Overthinking can lead to procrastinating and even worse – avoidance. Spend some time thinking and risk assessing but then take action. Too much thinking is never a good thing. Our brains are wired to look out for threat and we can talk ourselves out of anything if we overthink it enough. Don’t always trust your thoughts.
Firm personal boundaries
Treat yourself with self compassion and don’t allow others to treat you badly. When others become selfish or devalue you in any way, this is when your personal boundary alarm should be going off. When we allow toxic people to treat us badly, it’s emotional abuse that will chip away. You deserve better – keep away from abusive or selfish people. This keeps your sense of self in tact – you need this to be an independent self-respecting person.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
