This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 564. Do you know the first seven signs of emotional meltdown by Mary Yuck, ShelfGoLifeZend.com and I'm Justin Mollick. Welcome back to another edition of OLD, where I narrate the best blogs on the planet for you, sometimes books too. And speaking of books, I give away books to random people on my mailing list, always one at least on the first of every month, which is coming up in just four days.
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I'll give you a quick reminder at the end of the reading. So for now, let's hear the post as we optimize your life. Do you know the first seven signs of emotional meltdown by Mary Yuck, ShelfGoLifeZend.com? Do you sometimes feel pushed to the limits of your emotional resilience?
Do you sometimes want to scream, hurl abuse, run away or curl up into a ball on the floor? You may be heading for an emotional meltdown. But don't worry, there are some simple things you can do to avoid it once you recognize the symptoms. When we're in balance, we can usually avoid responding in an extreme manner, but sometimes we snap and go out of control.
I still have a dent in my dining table where I bang down a coffee mug and then hurled it through a window pane before yelling at a long-ago boyfriend to get out of the house now. I looked up the meaning of the word meltdown. It means the severe overheating of a nuclear reactor core resulting in melting of the core and escape of radiation. That's a useful image because when we're happy, our resilience is high and we can cope with difficult situations.
That's because we have the strength to protect the core of our being. But when our spirits are low, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune hit the core of our being. Actually, I think Hamlet's famous speech shows that he is heading for a meltdown. Quote, to be or not to be, that is the question.
Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take arms against the sea of troubles and by opposing end them. Shakespeare. Like the straw that broke the camel's back, it can be something quite insignificant that finally tips the balance because an emotional meltdown doesn't happen overnight except in traumatic circumstances. Usually there's a buildup of frustration that happens over time.
Here are the first warning signs that you're heading for an emotional meltdown. The warning signs. Number one, you feel moody. Your prevalent mood is a sullen and gloomy feeling.
Number two, making decisions is difficult. See Hamlet. It seems impossible to make big life changes and even small decisions are harder and harder to make. Number three, you are irritable.
Low grade anger and resentment or stress can lead to irritability. You may be prone to snapping others over trivial provocation. Number four, you can't relax. The body feels tense and tries you may.
You can't seem to relax. Going to sleep is difficult and you tend to wake up and worry in the early hours. Number five, your immune system is weak. The body is run down and you tend to get a string of colds or other infections.
Number six, you suffer from exhaustion. No matter how much you rest, you feel exhausted and depleted. Number seven, your eating habits change. You either overeat or lose your appetite.
If you notice one of the signs, you can easily get back on track. It's like veering off the road when driving a car. If you notice it at once, all you need is a simple correction and you're back on track. Let it drift on for longer and you'll need to wrench the steering wheel around to stay on the road.
If you're asleep at the wheel, your car will go right off the road and crash. So it's really important to read the early warning signs of an emotional meltdown. All of us can have a bad day at times, but if you notice that even just two or three of the warning signs are becoming habitual patterns, watch out. But don't worry, if you see patterns early enough, you can change them.
You're five ways of escaping an emotional meltdown. Five, no pill, free mood stabilizers. Number one, start expressive writing. Expressive writing is a self-help therapy in which one writes about difficult or traumatic events.
Research shows that expressive writing improves the immune system and mood. It reduces blood pressure, pain, and post-traumatic symptoms. The way to do it is to write in a private journal for about 15 minutes a day. Pour all of your frustration and pain into the pages.
Number two, unburden yourself to a friend. Talking to a trusted friend is a good way to regain some sense of perspective. Tell your friend that you're not seeking advice. All you want is to be able to talk about your problems.
Number three, take time out. Take the time to refresh your spirit. Go for a walk or meditate, even if just for a short while. Make sure that your time out is spent with active recreation.
If you just blob out in front of TV, you'll feel worse instead of better. Going for a walk is especially helpful because walking allows us to integrate our experience. Number four, exercise. A fast way to lift your mood is through sustained exercise.
Get your heart rate up through fast walking or other forms of exercise. Even just 10 minutes of exercise will help you feel better. Number five, self-analysis. Self-analysis is a very simple technique that will help you get perspective on your problems.
Make sure you are alone and undisturbed for at least 30 minutes and have your journal at hand. Now ask yourself, what is bothering me? We've got an answer to appear in your mind. Then ask, but what is really bothering me?
Keep on repeating this question, and in the end, you'll get to the core of the complication. We rebound a lot quicker if we understand what is really troubling us. All these five quote unquote treatments will help you regain a measure of resilience. Think of a rubber band.
A resilient band can be stretched and then snap back into size. A brittle band will break when stretched. Resilience allows us to be stretched beyond our comfort zone and still recover. The main thing is to be kind to yourself and to take immediate action when you notice one of the seven warning signs.
You just listened to the post titled, Do You Know The First Seven Signs With Emotional Meltdown? By Mary Yuckz of goodlifezen.com. Something I'd add to expressive writing is a technique I learned from a sociology and anthropology professor about 10 years ago. It's really just a big brain or mind dump.
We do this for at least a minute, start writing, not typing. You've got to do this with pen and paper. And don't stop writing. You're not allowed to stop.
Just keep going. Even if you can't think of anything to say. You could write, I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say.
I don't know what to say over and over if you have to. But you must keep writing words for the entire minute or longer. And it's a really effective way to just get everything that's in your mind out there. It's a strange practice for sure and not something you'll ever want to go back and read.
But I think it works and it's worth trying and he did moments like that. And by the way, tips like these are what I like to include in my weekly newsletter, which you can be part of for free. It's a nice way to show your support. And whoever's on that weekly newsletter is automatically part of Raffles, where I give away books to random people.
There's always a giveaway on the first of the month. And that's just in four days. So to be in that, come by oldpodcast.com and join the weekly newsletter mailing list. I have a bunch of books from Leon L'Oega Thedas of the Kindest Diaries series on Netflix and from the minimalist.
So there are plenty of giveaways coming up. Thank you for being part of that newsletter for listening every day and optimizing your life. I'll see you in about 24 hours, where your optimal life awaits. Hey, this is Dan from the Optimal Finance Daily Podcast, which is a lot like this show, except more focused on personal finance.
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