Recognizing Your Emotions And Why You Should Be

Emotions. We’ve all dealt with them. Sometimes we feel like we’re on top of the world, and sometimes we feel like we can’t get any lower. From the highs to the lows, intense emotions can be hard to navigate and control if we don’t know how. This is especially true for those that suffer from high functioning anxiety (HFA). 

People with HFA want to be in control of their emotions and often believe that if they just suppressed their feelings they’d be able to do more, achieve more, and be better people. But suppressing or hiding our emotions only makes it worse and there are much easier and healthier ways to deal with them than trying to ignore them all together. Recognizing your emotions is an important first step towards working through them. 

As an anxiety coach, I work with you to learn how to recognize your feelings so you can work through them and get your life back. Instead of letting your emotions get the best of you or get in the way of your goals, you can learn how to recognize, accept, and feel emotions without them derailing your life. 

Why You Should Identify Your Emotions

At times, emotions can be overwhelming and hard to handle. We’ve probably all dealt with waves of emotions that may have blinded our decision making skills or caused us to have a breakdown. 

For most of us with HFA, we like to think that we’re able to shut our emotions off when we need to. When we’re feeling overwhelmed with an emotion, we push it down and refuse to acknowledge it. Bottling up our feelings can eventually lead us to lose control over our abilities to keep them suppressed.

If we’re not careful, these emotions can build up so much that we lash out in anger, breakdown, or stay awake at night just feeling. Being unable to control these pent up emotions can seriously derail our lives if we let it. 

So what can we do to prevent these emotional reactions from happening? Recognizing your emotions is the first step towards being able to work through them, getting control of how you feel, and living a more fulfilling life where you don’t have to become robot-like in order to survive.

How To Recognize Emotions

Everyone’s emotions are different, so there’s not just one way someone can say how to identify emotions. In general though, there are some questions that you can ask yourself that will give you some insight into why you’re feeling the way you do.

This is the same process my coaching centers on in A.S.K., a tool I teach my clients and students how to use to get control of emotions. It all starts with identifying and recognizing emotions.

Because people with HFA tend to judge any emotion that isn’t happy or content, we can get caught up in justifying their emotions, rather than just acknowledging them. This keeps us stuck in our heads and can lead to more anxiety and negative self talk.  

People with HFA tend to judge any emotion that isn’t happiness or contentment. When we do this, we can often get caught up in justifying those emotions rather than just acknowledging them. This keeps us stuck in our heads and can lead to more anxiety and negative self talk. Instead, try following these steps: 

1. What emotions are you feeling?

When you feel your emotions getting out of control, or don’t understand where your emotions are coming from, try figuring out what emotions are coming up. Write them down. Figure out exactly what you’re feeling and where they're stemming from. 

Are you feeling angry? Or are you confused and anxious over something? Are you ready to give up on everyone and everything? Or do you actually feel unfulfilled - longing for something to get you motivated again?

2. Did anything happen to trigger these emotions?

Emotions can be triggered by someone or something. You may feel like your emotions have and always will be the same, but more times than not, there’s a specific reason your emotions may have been triggered.

Most of the time, they can be linked back to something that someone said or did, and sometimes the culprit is our own thoughts. When you feel an overwhelming emotion coming on, try to recognize if there was a specific person or situation that may have triggered those feelings. If you can recognize the source that triggers the emotions we feel in the moment, then we can prepare ourselves for when that source tries to trigger us again. 

3. What did you do as a result?

Emotions can blind our judgement and make us do things we wouldn’t normally do. The aftermath of emotional turmoil or an emotional breakdown often comes with guilt and regret because of something we did or said. To avoid this from happening, you need to recognize what reactions and urges your emotions are making you have. This requires us to be completely honest with ourselves even if it’s not always easy to admit. Being honest with yourself allows you to understand the impact that emotions can have and be aware of your actions when you feel yourself gravitating towards those urges. 

Recognize Your Emotions With An Anxiety Coach

If you are someone who struggles with emotional recognition as a result of HFA and desperately wants to learn how to be aware of your emotions so you can work through them, then set up a free consultation with me today.

I’ve worked hard to provide clients with the options they need in order to recognize and manage emotions. My coaching services offer a more one-on-one approach and are tailored to your specific needs.

I also have a self-guided course that covers emotional identification and emotional intelligence skills for those struggling with recognizing emotions. Check out my course to learn more about how you can start getting control over your emotions.