You can be a happy-go-lucky person, but that doesn’t mean you can always be jovial. Human emotions constantly fluctuate, meaning you’ll gravitate from happiness to sorrow to despair, depending on your situation and circumstances. However, while it’s normal to feel sad occasionally, there might be a lingering problem if your sadness drags on for too long or affects you so much that it takes over your life, derailing it. Such instances can pose significant issues that might prevent you from excelling professionally, personally, and socially.
Before you can address this issue, you must understand the emotion itself. Sadness is one of the primary emotions humans experience, along with joy, anger, and fear. However, other emotions linked to despair sometimes cover it up, cover it as anger can. That happens because it is less difficult to accept anger than sadness in our society since it has a negative connotation as a sign of weakness.
Feeling sad is not a problem. On the contrary, having and showing this feeling in certain situations is normal and healthy. Every emotion has a function that makes it easier for us to adapt to the reality in front of us. Some of the tasks of sadness are focusing on oneself, promoting introspection, slowing down, and promoting the search for support and empathy. However, it can become pathological on certain occasions and even lead to a disease or psychological disorder such as depression. For example, suppose you are immersed in a loop of negative thoughts and cognitions for a long time. In that case, you have been invaded by pessimism, and it is affecting other areas of your life, that sadness may no longer be adaptive and pathological. Another sign of what a problem can be is that you have tried to overcome it yourself without success.
Nobody wants to be sad. There are people whose main pleasure is victimizing themselves in their environment, but there is a difference between “to feel sorry” and “to feel sorry.” Even these people are looking for a thousand ways to overcome sadness. Sadness is a natural emotion. Therefore, sadness is part of life if it does not take over our lives. However, when it lingers, we must learn how to manage it to avoid serious psychological problems like depression.
So, what can you do when you feel sad? After all, you don’t want sadness to take over your life. Jane Morales, a human development, potential, leadership, and assertiveness coach, shares tips to help you overcome sadness and prevent it from derailing your life.
Accept Your Sadness
Understanding and accepting your sadness is the first step to coping with the emotion. Next, cry if you feel like it. Sadness is an emotion like any other and has its function. You have the right to feel sad and cry if you need it. Unfortunately, knowing what to do when you’re sad is not easy.
Accept your moment and give yourself time. It’s okay. Sometimes the best way to change something is to accept and stop fighting it. We can feel happy after a while. Every process takes its time.
Do Not Isolate Yourself
Isolating yourself might seem the obvious option when you’re down in the dumps. But it doesn’t help. While it is true that there are times when we need to be in solitude, sharing moments with other people distracts us, it makes us think about other things so as not to continue feeding the negative feeling.
Express It
Some people think bottling their feelings is the right thing to do when sad. But this approach almost always backfires. Bottling your emotions means you’re on the verge of blowing up. Eventually, things won’t be so pretty as you erupt. It’s important to understand that you don’t have to go through these feelings alone. Find someone willing to lend an ear, whether it’s a friend, family member, or therapist. Vent your frustrations.
Some people also express their sadness creatively by writing songs, poetry, or journal entries.
Establish a Routine
Jane Morales also states the importance of establishing a routine because it removes unfamiliarity from your day-to-day schedule. Humans are creatures of comfort, preferring familiarity and disliking change. A regimented routine allows you to battle sadness and loneliness.
Exercise
Exercising can also help you dispel your sadness. It’s no secret that working out causes your dopamine levels to increase, making you feel good. It also releases other hormones contributing to a positive mood, helping you battle sadness and loneliness.
