Take Time to Feel Your Feelings

Are you busier than ever? Perhaps you are working from home, but working longer, harder hours with increased productivity. If that is true for you, you may find that along with being busier than ever, your emotions are more fluid than ever. You may feel motivated, strong, and empowered today and unmotivated, afraid and overwhelmed tomorrow. 

As a result, it is important to remember that how you feel isn’t right or wrong.  It is simply how you feel and your feelings matter.

If you start to feel like you are on an emotional roller coaster, I encourage you to implement a few mindset strategies to help you get calm and centered:

1. Pause and feel your feelings. Why? Because your feelings and emotions are not always logical and may not be immediately discernible. I’ll give you an example. Perhaps you’ve heard the expression “hangry” which is a blending of the words hungry and angry. Hangry indicates you may be feeling anger when what you really are is hungry. Once you eat and nourish yourself, the feeling of anger goes away. When we pause, our feelings will let us know what we need to do to feel better. 
2. Identify and name what you are feeling. If you are feeling unmotivated, dig a bit deeper to identify why you are feeling unmotivated. You might find you are feeling lonely, afraid, or overwhelmed. When you name what you are feeling, (like hungry and not angry) you can get into action to feel better. For example, if you are feeling lonely, call someone who loves you and let them know you could use some extra love and support today.
3. Direct your feelings and take action. Once you have identified how you are feeling, take a moment to be self-compassionate. Reassure yourself it is ok to feel how you are feeling, then do something about it.  Doing something might be as simple as stopping and taking a break. It could be getting a bite, having a cup of hot tea, or taking a walk outside. Sad? Do something that brings you joy. Afraid? List out all your worries and design a plan of action to address any fears. 

Resist the urge to push through and ignore your feelings. I can assure you your feelings will only allow you to ignore them for so long and doing so often creates bigger issues that you will eventually have to address. Let me know in the comments how you will take time to pause, direct your feelings, and then take action.

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About Lakeshia Ekeigwe

I coach successful, high-achieving lawyers to create lives they love and careers that thrive! My clients include judges, lawyers, and executives, and organizations including Verizon, Kaiser Permanente, The County and City of Los Angeles, and The University of Texas.

I am a member of the International Coach Federation; MHS Certified in Emotional Intelligence EQi-2.0 and EQ 360; Certified in Mediation by SCMA - Southern California Mediation Association and The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office Dispute Resolution Program; Certified in Leadership Development by The Asian Pacific American Legal Center.