Do you remember saying something to someone that you didn’t mean in anger or strong emotions?
Do you react negatively to small stuff?
Can you look for things or ways to prevent overreaction from becoming overwhelming in your life?
This is possible and we can overcome our tendency to jump to conclusions and take a step of reflection before talking. By improving our self-awareness, we can avoid doing something that is reactive.
We can step back and take a deep breath and think about the consequences that will occur when we overreact in life.
Here is some content that we will take an in-depth look at on how to stop overreacting.
What Does Overreacting To Your Loved Ones Look and Feel Like?
Often, we overreact to small stimuli that would come right off our backs if we were not currently feeling stressed. For example, if we are under stress, our frustration in a traffic jam could escalate into a particular vendetta against all drivers we encounter. We scream, curse, fly the bird, and cool our road rage whenever we get flashing lights in our rearview mirrors.
An overreaction may usually feel like the sky is falling. Your armpits and palms may sweat, your face could be flushed and turn red, and your heart rate and breathing will frequently speed up. You feel your body getting prepared for a fight or flight situation as adrenaline courses through your veins to prepare you for battle.
Observers might perceive you are creating a mountain from a molehill. All those around you might develop a wrong opinion of you, whether they might be in a state to relate with you, or not.
People that intend for mental maturity try to discover how they can manage their reactions. Your colleagues and loved ones might count on this from you and feel upset or confused if confronted with an inordinately angry response.
Tips for Easing an Overreaction When You Feel One Coming
Understanding how your overreaction is aptly being seen and how it could make others feel – you would likely prefer to prevent yourself in time. Here is how you can de-escalate yourself if you feel all set to blow your fuse:
- Remove yourself from the situation: Politely excuse yourself in the situation. You do not need to explain yourself – say you would like some alone time. Many people respect this and all those that do not contain anger issues of their own anyway.
- Participate in a physical activity to diffuse anger: Take a brisk hike around the work building in case you are at the office, dance to music, as well as scrub the bathroom in case you’re mad at someone you deal with. Physical movement will help rebalance adrenaline levels.
- Practice mindfulness meditation to watch the situation in a brand new light: Once fury starts to ease if manageable, position yourself in peaceful contemplation. Think about what triggers brought on strong emotions. Attempt to consider the opposite viewpoint and find things in common. You may focus on the way you were both once young kids just looking for love and approval.
How Anger Management Benefits Everyone
All those that often really feel most furious will usually look for far more things to rage at.
Chronic anger isn’t merely hard for others being around but can be harmful to your physical wellness – some scientists have indicated that anger raises the danger of cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, you will find numerous choices available to discover how you can relieve your anger.
For me, cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) has been transformative for dealing with my emotions. CBT taught me how you could recognize then reframe thoughts which triggered me to overreact.
I can now connect in a far more sensible and caring approach to all those I love. I have also found positive results at the office and feel much less nervous about losing control of my temper and perhaps harming my reputation and relationships.
Furthermore, finding a high-quality anger management therapist or maybe course may usually be of significant benefit. Even if you do not feel you require treatment long-term, mastering how you can control your emotions can help your day-to-day interactions.
Here are Five Suggestions to Help You Stop Overreacting:
Do not overlook the basics.
Insufficient rest, going very long with no water or food, lack of hobbies and recreation can cause your mind and your body to exaggerate responses. For many of us (myself included), it is not hard to allow our own self-care to require a back seat. We often are busy taking care of others. Ironically, it’s your loved ones that are more than likely to wind up on the receiving end of your mental overreactions. Prioritizing your very own self-care helps reduce overreactions.
Could you tune in and name it?
A stiff neck, pit in the stomach, pounding heart, tense muscles can all be symptoms that you are at risk of overreacting or being hijacked by intense emotions. Being much more conscious of bodily cues, in reality, allows you to keep ahead of and in charge of your response. Naming your feeling stimulates each side of your mind enabling you to focus on your situation rather than simply reacting to it.
Recently, my daughter was expressing some hurt feelings she has about our relationship. While she was chatting, I observed a warm feeling rising in my stomach, along with protective thoughts. Tuning into my very own body enabled me to decelerate my response and enabled me to just listen to what she was saying. I was able to react calmly.
Set a confident spin on it.
When you have identified the sensations in your body, you can intervene. When we have extreme emotions, it is not hard for our brain to head to a worst-case scenario and then you are caught responding to it. Watch for all-or-nothing phrases as “always” and “never” as signs that you are moving toward a worst-case scenario.
If a person offends you, think about how the insult isn’t about you. Perhaps the neighbor that snapped at you was only given a pay cut at the office, and it is feeling discouraged, or maybe the individual that cut you off in traffic is hurrying to the clinic to find out the birth of their first child. Make up a practical backstory and place a good spin on whatever is triggering your emotional response.
Breathe before responding.
When you feel as if flying off of the handle, take a full breath. Deep breathing lowers your fight or flight response and enables you to calm your nervous system and pick out a far more positive and effective response. Experiment with having a deep breath the next time somebody slices you off in traffic. In a recent Facebook poll of mine, overreacting while traveling was essentially the most widely cited situation for overreacting. Just imagine if all drivers had taken a breath before responding, producing hand gestures, or yelling obscenities. The world would be a kinder place. Oh, and there may be fewer accidents.
Identify and solve emotional “leftovers.”
Notice patterns in your overreactions. If you are frequently returning to an intensely emotional or maybe behavioral response, there’s likely a historical element that hasn’t yet been resolved. In my therapy training, I managed with a gorgeous, intelligent female that often became tearful and sad when she heard about close friends being together without her. Her increased awareness of being excluded by various other females in her neighborhood, even though she had many friends, was usually included in social gatherings. She felt emotionally rejected by her parents and shunned by peers when she was young; this elevated her consciousness of rejection as an adult. Through therapy, she was able to cope with the earlier relationship wounds, enabling her to respond in a more stable way to future social situations.
