How often do you feel frustrated? Most of us follow the same routine every single day, but when sometimes something happens and suddenly we feel frustrated because of it. Maybe you are suddenly stuck in traffic, maybe a person said something or your day isn’t just going very well. Frustration is an emotion we feel when our day is not going according to our plan.
Feeling frustrated does not feel good. When I feel frustrated by something, it can last for days and during those, I am completely distracted by what happened. I am not taking care of myself and am not focused on my own goals. But I am also doing a lot of inner work these days and it gets easier to go with the flow. These days when something happens that frustrates me, I take a deep breath in and try to relax. But that is just one of my 7 tips for dealing with frustration. You should not waste a whole day, week, month, or even a year just because one thing happened.
7 tips for dealing with frustration
1. Can’t change the situation, let it go
There are certain things we do not control. We can’t change the weather, we can’t change other people’s behavior and sometimes we just can’t control the situation. If you’re a control freak, this might frustrate you a lot. But it is really better in situations like these, you just learn to let go. When something happens and you don’t like it, take a step back and find out if you can change it. If yes, change it. If not, accept the situation and let it go. Learning to let things go is important in life because sooner or later more situations like these will happen again.
2. Realize what frustration will do to you
Sometimes it is good to know what will happen if you feel frustration and you let it control you. Normally, you will realize this when the situation has passed. But when you let these emotions control you then these things might happen:
– Staying negative
– Make it bigger than it really is
– Losing precious time
– You’re not the nicest person to be around with
– Can’t solve the problem when you’re frustrated
3. Inner work
When you are something who gets carried away easily and feel frustrated a lot of the time and you want to change, there are different ways to yourself. Some people like to meditate while others try yoga and read self-help books. I’ve found it is not always necessary to do those things. I think those things can definitely be helpful in your life and I do those things too. Meditation, yoga, and reading self-help books have a lot of great benefits, but I use a different approach. I make sure, I take time for myself in the morning. By this I mean, I take an hour to myself and I just simply read, write in my (gratitude) journal and just dance. But when I start my day this way, I feel so much more relaxed and I definitely feel less frustrated.
4. Wait a minute or two
When something happens, we let our emotions control us. We should be in charge of how we respond. So take a deep breath or two, slow down, analyze what just happened and when you are feeling calm, you react. This way, you won’t do anything bad like yelling at people or making it bigger than it really is. You need a minute to put everything in perspective.
5. Try to find something positive in the situation
When you are stuck in traffic, it might feel like it is the worst thing ever. But now you have more time to sit in your car and listen to music and sing along, or maybe you want to listen to a podcast. When you lose your job, it is pretty shitty but maybe this gives you the opportunity to find a job that you will actually. What I am saying here, is that in every single situation there is something good and bad. It all depends on your perspective. You don’t have to be happy all the time. But it can help you to feel less frustrated because in every situation there is also something good. (unless it comes to death, that is a little bit more complicated)
6. Feel those emotions
As I mentioned above, I said you don’t have to feel happy all the time. That is impossible and trying to be happy all the time, will have the opposite effect. You just have to go with the flow. When you are feeling frustrated, acknowledge it and feel it. You are feeling it for a reason. Maybe you always make things bigger than they really are and you suddenly realize this and you want to change. Or maybe you are feeling frustrated because this is not the life you want. All of the emotions can help you, no matter if they are good or bad.
7. Live in the moment
When you live in the moment (or at least try to), you learn how to be present without judging anything. Nothing is good or bad. And when you have this attitude, everything is okay. This will help to stay calm in any situation. So when something ‘bad’ happens, you are in control of your emotions including frustration. It is pretty similar to taking a minute before reacting, but this is more of a lifestyle. This is something you could practice every day and it has a lot of great benefits too.
Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash