Music

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

Just the other day, I explained to my husband how I was getting frustrated with my colleague/boss and his negative remarks about anything and everything.

I remember laughing about it some time last year, but when I sat down a few days ago to do the math, I realized I was around him for too many hours and this negativity would somehow affect me. I was already seeing signs. It wasn’t anything to laugh about.

My office is in another town, about an hours drive from where I live. Most of my colleagues live in the same town as me, so a few of us decided to car pool rather than use the public transportation. This has been going on for about a year. I do the driving and Mr. Negative sits on the passenger seat. It was like his riding shot-gun went without saying as he is the oldest by age and highest in rank amongst us at work.

Let’s do the math; 1 hour to work and 1 hour back. That’s 2 hours a day for 5 days in a week. 10 hours of constant negative remarks in a week. That’s 40 hours in a month and guess what…480 hours in a year. 

Last Thursday morning, on our way to work, I responded to something in a way that scared me. I felt really negative too, it took me a while to feel a bit better. Somehow, I found myself turning up the music and I tuned my mind out of their discussion in the vehicle and into the music. It kind of worked.

So my strategy is this:

• I admit I feel bad/down/negative
• I try to find out why I feel that way
• I use my calming aids which include movies, books, but most of all Music