Everything you do starts with your mind. If your mind is unhealthy, the rest of your life will be unhealthy. If you don’t have self-awareness, if your emotional abilities aren’t in hand, if you cannot manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have effective relationships and empathy, then no matter how smart you are, you will always be in misery. Nearly 80% of careers are derailed for reasons linked to emotional competencies. Indeed, when our emotional health is in a bad state, then our self-esteem is affected. We will not be able to perpetuate normal life activities, and this is dangerous. Demar Young is a mental health expert who says that everyone needs to practice emotional first aid.
Demar Young is the CEO and founder of Reflections Counseling, an establishment that provides mental health services. Interested and referred clients can get family and individual counseling to manage depression, anxiety, and anger issues. Reflections Counseling has a wide range of professionals who can also offer consultative advice on managing domestic violence and mental health issues in diverse patient groups. However, all their efforts will be deemed futile if patients cannot carry out self-management approaches by themselves. This is whyDemar Young insists on educating clients on how to carry out emotional first aid, especially during trying times.
Realistically, we are bombarded with psychological injuries much more often than we are with physical ones. In most of these instances, people ignore the emotional pain they experience. Demar Young says that we should learn to treat ourselves with the same compassion that we would expect an expert or loyal friend to show them when trying to comfort them.
There are several ways of practicing emotional first aid. Firstly, recognize when it happens and work towards treating it before it feels all-encompassing. You must realize that your body can alert us for true emotional pain, the same way it does for the sensation of physical pain- use this to your advantage and possibly, write down that feeling. Secondly, it is imperative to redirect your gut reaction when going through emotional distress. Learn to ignore the after-effects of your predicament, and instead, focus on the moment. Our social environment can assist us in coming back to reality. Finally, do your best to disrupt negative thoughts with positive distraction. We experience psychological pain when we keep on replaying that distressing event or situation in our minds without trying to solve the problem or seeking new insights. You can distract yourself by engaging in a task that requires utmost concentration.
Demar Young reiterates that you should never let your emotions overpower your intelligence and existence. Unleash your emotions in the right place and time before you explode at the wrong place and time- this is why you need to practice emotional first aid.