If you have never had heartbreak in your life, then you are one of the few ones who have never managed to love truly. Heartbreak doesn’t just come from a relationship breakup, there are many things that cause heartbreak some of which actually have nothing to do with relationships. If we can bandage our physical wounds then we may also need to consider bandaging our emotional wounds and stop them from bleeding profusely.
Emotional injuries can be just as crippling as physical ones. So how do we do this? How do we bandage our emotional injuries?
- Recognize when you’re in emotional pain. Physical pain is the body’s way of telling us that something is wrong, and this goes for emotional pain as well. If you experienced rejection, failure, or some other life tribulation that you just can’t get over, then you need to pay attention to that emotional injury. Believe it or not, it won’t go away by you simply ignoring it. Psychological wounds often manifest themselves as physical symptoms like headaches and illnesses.
- Be gentle and compassionate with yourself. Thoughts like ‘I’m so stupid or ‘I just can’t get anything right’ drag down your self-esteem and makes it more difficult to be emotionally resilient. Show yourself some compassion! You wouldn’t let your loved ones or friends beat themselves up while they were down, so don’t do it to yourself. Change what you tell yourself by substituting a negative remark with a positive one.
- Distract yourself from ruminating over your problems. Replaying distressing events over and over in your mind is not a helpful way to heal from emotional wounds. The best way to disrupt unhealthy rumination is to distract yourself by doing something. One thing you can do is engage in something that requires concentration, like completing a crossword or playing a game on your phone or other electronic devices. Physical exercise is another way to distract yourself from ruminating, so take a walk or run to help clear out that cluttered mind. Even just a few minutes of distraction will reduce your negative focus.
- Find meaning in loss. Loss is often seen as the passing away of a loved one, but it can also be the loss of something else significant to us such as a job or a relationship. Loss can leave deep scars and keep us from moving forward in our lives. One of the most important things you can do to ease this pain is to find meaning in the loss and reframe your thinking about it. Think about what you’ve gained from the experience and what you could change to add more purpose and meaning to your life. Supporting and helping others who may have experienced a similar loss may also lessen this pain.
- Move on. The best way to nature heartbreak is to stay in the same place in which you were hurt, pick yourself up, dust yourself, and move on.
Make it a habit to pay attention to your psychological health on a regular basis, especially after a difficult, stressful, or emotionally painful situation, and bandage where bandaging is needed.
If you need to speak to a professional counsellor, don’t forget to get in touch with Psyche and Beyond.
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Email: psycheandbeyond@gmail.com / info@psycheandbeyond.org
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