First Aid for Your Feelings: It's a Thing!

firstaid

Last week I talked a big game about comparisons. And in Death by a Thousand Tiny Cuts is Still Death I talked about how important it is to acknowledge your emotional wounds, no matter how stupid or tiny or insignificant you think they are. Just as we do not wear an outrageous amount of physical armor to protect us from every day threats to our bodies, we cannot possibly carry enough emotional armor to protect ourselves from bumps, bruises, or paper cuts to the heart. We're going to rack up a few scraped knees (or worse)—psychologically—each year. The problem is that we aren't taught how to apply first aid to our emotional burns. We let them fester. And just like any physical ailment, when untreated, they worsen. This is such a huge concept. I'd love to be able to break it down into tiny manageable pieces one day. But for now, I think the very best introduction to this concept is via Psychologist Guy Winch, who hosts a 17-minute TedTalk on the subject. One of my favorite points Winch makes is this: just a little over 100 years ago, society started valuing (and practicing) physical hygiene. Life expectancy rates went up by decades. Imagine how dramatically our quality of life could improve if we all started practicing emotional hygiene. So find a cozy corner somewhere, plug in your earbuds, and let yourself inhale every breath of information this guy throws down. You won't regret it. [ted id=2193]

"By taking action when you're lonely, by changing your responses to failure, by protecting your self-esteem, by battling negative thinking, you won't just heal your psychological wounds, you will build emotional resilience. You will thrive." — Guy Winch