How do you deal with undesired emotions?

[piinyouri]

I intimidate them until they flee to the darkest corners of my soul.

I've crawled up inside myself so much over the past 4 years or so I probably have a TON of repressed shit.

It'll come out one day. And oh won't that be a fun day.

 

[Esotera]

I just shut them off and don't think about them, it's surprisingly easy after you've practiced it a bit. The only downside is that if you take it too far you can feel absolutely nothing, which isn't that great.

Emotions are there for a reason, even if they're undesired. We should attempt to address the reason they're coming, and if we can't, just block them out.

 

[Gennadios]

One kind of learns to deal with it over the years, I don't remember the exact trigger but I've had those feelings since my early teens. On the good days you just don't think about it although its presence is always felt, on the bad days it's kind of like being around an old friend now. Emptyness is now a meditative experience for me.

On the *really* bad days my grandma hooks me up with Clonazepam. A Rx anti-anxiety med, something about it hits all the right triggers and shuts off all the parts of my brain that I don't want to deal with.

Finally, take up jogging, the immediate bodily discomfort of fatigue, sweat, and straining for breath does wonders for pushing emotional issues to the sidelines.

 

[putowtin]

Don't worry, you'll soon be at university, where you will drink your worries away (trust me I'm a university administrator, I see it every day!)
But seriously, you?re a little nervous and that?s understandable, your family wants you to do well, and sometimes that can come across as pressure, but they don?t mean it that way.
If you?re going away to university, the break will do you good, it?s a shock at first (and try not to live on Raman/super noodles) but university is supposed to be about growing up. Not only are you learning and building toward a future career but you?re also learning how to live in the real world, a shock I know.
You must have interests outside of your studies, gaming, sports, stamp collecting (he he) when you feels stressed go to them. I generally put on a game where I can shoot, electrocute, stab, or hit someone with a giant purple dildo when I?m a bit depressed (normally pretending that said person is my boss Simon!)

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

These things build up until I'm just not satisfied with myself or what I've gotten out of life. Everything just feels kind of meaningless.

You seem to be implicitly comparing yourself to someone here. Some sort of ideal person you feel you fall short of.
What is it that you think will make you satisfied with what you've gotten out of life?

Let me tell you, I often feel the same way, and I've got all sorts of academic awards for good grades and a master's degree in an impressive field. Yet I'm trying to find work now and I feel a bit worthless compared to people with actual tangible working experience.

I don't know what you're studying or what your schedule is like, but it never hurts to start getting work experience if you can. And the one thing about a job is that you rarely have time to contemplate your own boring existence.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I remind myself that I am not composed of polygons, therefore I cannot have emotions. Works every time.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

There is some great advice here.

I dance around them. Dancy, dancy. And then they go away.

When I feel an emotion coming along I swallow a cement pill the size of a brick and adjust my scrotum slightly.

Then I go punch a bear to death.

But seriously though.

Hey, I'm being honest. Nonchalance and a sense of humor are great remedies.

 

[Zeren]

I listen to loud music and drink whiskey. It's not healthy, but it works every time to cheer me up.

 

[kommando367]

I just shift my mind to stoicism mode.

That's also how I deal with stress.

 

[Yopaz]

Step 1: Clean my room.
Step 2: Do cardio exercise.
Step 3: Eat some quality food.
Step 4: Eat a little high-quality chocolate.

I find exercise combined with a decent meal afterwards is really the best thing. Makes me relaxed and happy. The problem is that when you're really down you don't feel like exercising or making something good to eat...

Now I got really depressed last Friday actually. I won't go into details, but I basically just curled into a ball and went to bed for a few hours while reading. Now I decided to hit the gym because I thought that would cheer me up, but on the way there I decided to listen to some music. So I picked the album Revolutions Per Minute and eventually I ended up listening to the song Broken English. Basically it's about how we we recover after things push us down. It just really struck home at that point and I realized I shouldn't let these things keep me down. So I started relaxing and feeling kinda joyful. Then I lifted some weights, had a little jog, hit the sauna and went home and made dinner.

So the combination of music, exercise, books and a filling meal can really make me snap out of a bad line of thought. I realized there's no use in crying over tomorrow when I don't know if my sorrows actually will come. Enjoy today, deal with tomorrow when it comes.

 

[Angelous Wang]

a feeling of emptiness and unimportance.

Emotions are all in your head, you have all the power and all the control, you can twist any emotion into another all you need to do is find the right emotional path.

Having a good imagination helps and so does using dark/negative emotions as they are far more effective than positive ones.

If I am feeling as you describe, I would start to daydream about something I really hate (can be person, an object or whatever) and then I daydream about harming/killing said thing in the most long, violent and horrible manor I can think up an keep on daydreaming about that until all feel is anger and hate.

Then I would end the daydream in manor that showed my victory in some grand stage sort of way to give me false sense of way that would turn the anger and hate into a feeling of accomplishment, power, pride and superiority.

And then, profit?

Depression to egotism in one simple daydream.

Also it probably helps to listen to music whilst you do it to block out the rest of the world, but I am so used twisting my own emotions I can do it pretty much any-time.

 

[MrMixelPixel]

I've found this to be the most successful method of dealing with my problems.

Spoiler: Pictured, not actually a good method of dealing with problems.

 

[Flutterguy]

I've spent the last year digging myself out. I'll give you a brief of my experience and throw in whatever lose advice I think of.

Eventually I decided to try taking a large dose of mushrooms. Seeing as I had been suffering from migraines(1-7 days each) since 6 years old, and recent studies I seen show they somehow help stabilize the brain. After traversing a multitude of dimensions I realized I play too many video games, I chose to believe lies, I should pursue hobbies which reward me, my problems are (mostly) my own fault, as well as many other things. (I am not saying this is necessary, just stating the cause of my own turnaround.)

Figure out hobbies (Preferably not on a computer).I started to keep a book to right loose ideas into, the hope is to one day make a comedy act or philosophical e-book. I also tried my friends skateboard, which lead to me buying one a few days later and spending every hour i can on it (This is something I would never have done until I got past my ego). I have also always loved piano so I rented a keyboard this month, and I totally suck but hey atleast I can play a few songs now .

I also make an effort to not lie anymore. This is obvious really, but often your ego will tell you a lie is true. Kings would beat their subjects and think they were morally right, because of their ego, which we all have. Don't let it tell you lies anymore, accept responsibility for your actions (outside of work ), and indulge yourself when it is logical/respectful to do so. Basically don't deny yourself a right to do what you want because of your ego. Also don't do things it is telling you to do (Like bash some guy in 'cause his pants be so emo).

Expand your brain. Hard to find hobbies or interests when you do the same routines all the time. Find new music, listen to philosophy, research quantum mechanics, go hit on girls at a bar, look into religions, just find out what works for you. For example I had heard Aliester Crowley mentioned alot, so I researched into him last month, which lead to a week looking into what the internet has a black magick/occult. Although I don't plan on becoming a magician or anything I did learn quite a bit. Occultism is just a cult/religion, done a bit different is all. They repeatedly tell you something until you accept it for truth in a way that will leave you dependant on them for your spirituality.

I know I'm going everywhere with this, but I don't want to put things in a tidy little sentence that just gets misinterpreted.

 

[Megalodon]

I began going to university straight out of high school a few months ago. And it's been a fun ride so far, but sometimes when I'm alone, or something I perceive as sad happens, these feelings pop up that make me feel like the least accomplished human on the planet, save my good grades in high school. Considering my family's hopes run on me graduating from university, I feel like I have to meet their expectations, but it just feels like a suffocatingly heavy weight on my shoulders.

Does your university have a counselling service you can use? Or talk to a personal tutor. If you struggle to talk about this stuff with your friends, something a bit more impartial/professional might not be a bad idea.

What makes me feel worse is that if I muck up now, my life up to this point probably means nothing.

Well it sounds like you haven't mucked up yet, don't let the fear of failure become a self-fulfilling prophecy. You're at university, so someone out there thinks you can achieve. You did well at school, so there's no reason to think that you can't do the same at university if you put the effort in.

If you do struggle, it's really not the end of the world. I did muck up Uni, failed my 2nd year hard. But I learnt from my mistakes, and with a little luck and a lot of graft, I bounced back. In the scheme of things, that failure was instrumental in getting to where I am now. So don't write off a bad experience as invalidating what came before. Endure, and you may well emerge stronger for the temporary failure.

It might be more fitting for me, considering I've been mostly unnoticeable to others during my time living.

This sounds like your current bad mood talking, it's easy to feel small and unnoticed when you're not feeling so hot. But there are people who care.

These things build up until I'm just not satisfied with myself or what I've gotten out of life. Everything just feels kind of meaningless.

Even then, there are times when I am quite content with my life. I guess this is just one of the "bad" episodes. I know it's really only my fault that I feel like this, but sometimes the sadness train just hits me without warning. What do you do to deal with feelings you don't want?

Oh, and sorry about generally being a depressing sod. I just seem to be in a bit of a funk today.

Feeling like that from happen from time to time, no need to apologise, just shows you're human. Personally I find beer, sleep and being busy the three best counters to a malaise like that.