THE PENNY PUB

My Emotions Guide Me to What I Need

And help me find resilience

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In my journey to getting a master’s in social work, I quickly learned that most assignments involved self-reflection. We can’t help others without understanding ourselves or healing from what life has randomly poured into our cups.

We were often asked the hard questions: When might something trigger you, and how can you protect yourself?

I had to think about that question for longer than it took me to complete my readings for that particular assignment. Everyone has a good idea of what might set them off, but only some things. Just because we lean into certain coping skills doesn’t mean they’re the best ones.

My answer to the assignment was admittedly generic. I wrote that I would practice mindfulness, take a deep breath to pause, and let the emotion I was feeling stream by as if I were at the bank of a creek. Then, I would let myself understand that this feeling is okay to sit with and work to hold it in place but not run my logical actions based on it.

That is way harder to do than it sounds. I have always been motivated by my emotions. At times, there are better ways to approach something than that, namely in business or leadership situations. But I need to let them conquer to a degree…