Emotions: Enjoy the ride!

Ups and downs. Rough patches and awesome experiences. They are all part of life and living. If you do not experience the lows - you could never enjoy the highs. They are called emotions and that is what makes life great.

A recent blog post by a popular sharks rugby supporter, after the Sharks had lost a Super 15
game said in a blog post entitled “Time to build a bridge” said this “Finally, by the time we get to Wednesday or Thursday, we manage to pick ourselves up again and start pondering team selection for the next game. The doom and gloom is still there in the backs of our minds, but we also start to really hope and believe once more that the team will turn things around. More often than not, that’s exactly what they do, leading us into a completely different, euphoria-driven pattern the following week.”

 As a strong Sharks supporter I took some lessons out of this little passage.

1) The author lives in England. England sports fans are known to cry at the stadiums after their teams have lost.

2) Why can't I get upset and even angry when my team loses? It is normal to experience being upset and happy and every emotion in between or known to man.

3) After the initial upsetting event (like the Sharks losing), you can recover and look forward to better days.

I am a person who used to go through life without getting too happy or too upset over anything. I would have called myself a fence sitter. Fence sitters are very emotionally stable people but not in a good way. In fact they are more like emotionally paralyzed. Recently I have tried to become less of a fence sitter and experience life as it is and how it can be. It can be tough, but on the other hand, it can be awesome!

Here is how to jump off the fence:

1. Allow yourself to get happy or sad.

It is okay to be happy and it also okay to be sad. Life has ups and downs so go with them and see where it takes you.

2. Know you limits on either side.

Having said let yourself get happy and sad, you must know your limits on either side. For example: If, when you get sad or upset, you get into fight mode or angry - be able to check yourself and stop this from happening. 

3. Tell someone

Having a friend to share your happy moments is fantastic but having someone there when you are having a rough time is possibly as good, if not better. Either way, tell someone about what is going on. As the old saying goes, "A problem shared is a problem halved".

4. Have a trigger to enjoy life

Often this is music of a 'happy' nature. For some it's playing with their kids. Whatever it is - know it and use it. This will come in handy. This is especially useful when you (as point 2 above) know your limit and feel yourself going down and you can break the trend before it gets too bad.

Life has many ups and downs along the way. They can be a great experience or an excruciating one. They can both teach you a lot of lessons along the way if you let them. So sit back and enjoy the emotional ride!! You cannot trust emotions but you can enjoy the ride they provide!