Our actions control our emotions
Day 67 / 365
You must have heard of this little exercise, that if you force a smile for some time, you will inevitably feel happier. Same goes for fear. When you are afraid about something, what’s the cliche advice? Just do it, rip the band-aid off.
Well, a cliche is a cliche for a reason. We can’t control our emotions. If you feel sad, you can’t just will yourself into a cheerful mood.
But we can control our actions. And the best part is, our actions can control how we are going to fell.
Don’t wait for your mood to be right to do something. Do that thing and the mood will follow. Suppose you have an assignment due tomorrow. You are worried you might not complete it, so you procrastinate even starting it. Then there’s even less time left, and thus you are even more anxious. It’s a vicious circle.
Now in this case, if you would have controlled your action, forced yourself to open your notebook and start writing something. Doesn’t matter how much. Any amount of work done would give you some sense of accomplishment, which would bring down your anxiety, which would motivate you to write even more. A feedback loop again, but this time it’s a positive one.
Remember, we can’t control our emotions but we can control our actions. So don’t let your emotions get the better of you. Focus on the right action, the right emotion will follow.
This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here
Yesterday’s blog — How did we figure out that the earth is round?