A lot of us have a habit emotional tracking. It develops from extreme anxiety about feeling emotionally secure. To that end, we’ve developed the habit of checking in with what other people are feeling, to get on with their mood. However, this causes us to push ourselves onto the priority list later on and make others our preferred feelings. Therapist Israa Nasir writes, “You may have developed metacognition of other people’s moods and, most importantly, mood swings,” writes therapist Israa Nasir when explaining tracking. emotions and how it can harm us emotionally.
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Israa shares a few more habits we can practice to overcome emotional scrutiny and how can we put ourselves and our own feelings first:
Pause and observe: We need to be aware of how we are feeling. We need to pause and observe how we are feeling and introspect if we are feeling this because of other people’s feelings.
Separate: We need to learn to separate our emotions from the emotions of others. That way, we will know what are our emotions and which are influenced by the emotions of others. This will help us feel more empathetic and protect our emotional energy.
pattern: We need to look closely at the patterns we follow, the types of interactions we make, and what we anticipate. This will help us understand what kind of emotional care we are doing. The more we know about the pattern, the better we can break it.
Regulations: We need to learn how to regulate the body and activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This means going for a walk or removing ourselves from situations that might affect us or taking a deep breath. Once the parasympathetic nervous system is tuned in, we feel much calmer and more peaceful.
Endurance: We need to learn to endure difficult emotions. Instead of engaging with the desire to predict or acknowledge the feelings of others, we should learn to tolerate whatever may come our way.
