How to Deal with Frustration – Six Tips
We get frustrated when our plans do not work out, when our efforts do not bear fruit, or when we expect too much from ourselves, but do not stand up to our expectations.
Frustration is an automated and natural reaction that occurs whenever things go wrong, not as expected and not as planned, and we feel like running into a wall.
You work hard, spend time and effort over a certain goal, but nothing works. You might feel stuck with some project and cannot find your way out. In both instances, you might feel angry and unhappy for not getting anywhere, no matter how hard you try.
You might have to deal with frustration concerning important matters, as well as simple matters. You might confront frustration due to lack of appreciation at work, or due to matters relating to relationships.
You might try to use a certain program on your computer, open a can of pickles, or try to fix something at home, but fail, and ultimately, get angry and frustrated.
You might also confront frustration when you try to bake a cake, but burn it down, when you want to make yourself a cup of coffee and discover that you ran out of milk, or when you plan to go with your wife to a movie, but discover that all the tickets have been sold out.
When plans do not work out, people often give up and quit, but is this the right thing to do? Frustration seems to be part of life and we often run into it, but there is no reason to give up. If something does not work out, it does not mean that it will not work out the next time we try, or on the third or the fifth time.
How to deal with frustration and how you can overcome it? I would like to suggest a few simple tips.
How to Deal with Frustration – Five Tips to Help You
1. Analyze what you did wrong
Before letting any negative feelings overwhelm your mind, stop everything, and try to think what you did wrong and where you need to improve.
2. Take a break
Instead of getting frustrated, take a short break and let go.
How many times did you let go and relaxed your efforts, got busy with something else or went to sleep, and then, after a while, discovered the solution to your problem?
When we try hard, but nothing seems to work, the best thing to do is to take a break and do something else. This refreshes the mind and allows it to look at things differently and from a different perspective.
3. Stop being angry
Frustration leads to anger and anger to unhappiness. One negative feeling leads to another negative feeling. It is like adding fuel to a fire.
Anger does not help and does not solve anything, and tends to inflate any negative feelings. If you cannot achieve or get something, there must be reasons for it. Try to find the reasons and learn how to improve.
Sometimes, the reason for failure has nothing to do with you at all. It could be due to circumstances, other people, or doing something not at the right time.
To stop anger, just leave what you are doing and go for a walk, go see a movie or have a good meal. Do anything that takes your mind away from the anger and its cause. When we are angry, we cannot think straight, but when the mind becomes calm, it is easier to address the problem causing the frustration and the anger.
4. Try to be positive
Being positive, helps you overcome your negative feelings.
Think of times when you succeeded despite difficulties. This will give you motivation and help you overcome frustration.
Look for solutions and expect to find them. Believe in yourself, and remember that people who achieved success in any area of life, have confronted failure, but did not give up.
5. Maintain an attitude of detachment
It is tough to display detachment when you confront failure or keep banging your head against a wall. However, this is one of the best ways to deal with frustration and overcome it. A certain degree of detachment will help you keep a calm mind and deal better and more efficiently with every situation.
Strive to calm down a little, take a few breaths or exercise your body for a few moments. This will relax your mind, making it easier to display detachment.
You would minimize your frustration, if you view every situation objectively, without letting negative feelings to bias your thinking and judgment.
These are simple tips, which can help you overcome frustration. Remember to use them, whenever these negative feelings arise.
Article Source: http://www.successconsciousness.com/blog/personal-development/how-to-deal-with-frustration/
Image Source: http://images.indianexpress.com/2015/04/frustration-main.jpg
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. bear fruit (verb phrase-idiom) - yield positive results.
2. stand up to expectations / live up to expectations(verb phrase- idiom) - to be as good as good as someone thought something would be
3. overwhelm (verb) - give too much of a thing to (someone) inundate.
4. perspective (noun) - a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something a point of view.
5. adding fuel to a fire (verb phrase- idiom) - to make a problem worse to say or do something that makes a bad situation worse to make an angry person get even angrier
6. inflate (verb) - increase (something) by a large or excessive amount
7. detachment (noun) - the state of being objective or aloof.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. What makes you frustrated at home? At work? In a mall? In a supermarket? In a movie theater? In a bus/train/KTX/taxi/ while driving a car?
2. How do you behave when you are frustrated? How do you feel after having acted out due to frustration?
3. Is there something you try to avoid because if you don’t, you would just get frustrated? What is it? Tell more about it.
4. How do you avoid getting frustrated?
