Growing up, we were taught mathematics, science, history in schools, we were taught proper manners and how to act by our family, but no one has ever taught us how to deal with our emotions.

When we cried, we were asked not to cry. When we were unhappy we were told to just get over it. To surpress our negative emotions is all we know, but it'd be much better to learn how to properly deal with it.

1. Do Not Reject Your Emotions

Every emotion is your body trying to tell you something. When you feel down or depressed all of a sudden and you can't seem to tell why, it might just be your body telling you that you are exhausted.

At times like this, it is unwise to push it back down or treat it as another source of stress. All it is trying to do is tell your your body's needs, and if ignored or suppressed, might lead to physical and mental illness. So, perhaps, you need a hot bath or a cup of tea. Pause for a second, and listen to your body.

2. Try to Understand Your Emotions

At this point, you may want to grab a piece of pen and paper and jot down how you feel. It could be in the form of words, lyrics, or just scribbles, but properly identifying your emotions is an important first step in trying to deal with it.

From here, you can consider 3 questions:

a. What incident made me feel this way?

b. What thoughts and opinions do I have about this incident?

c. According to my thoughts and opinions, is there a solution?

Most people are used to running away from negative emotions and not communicating well with youself. Sometimes you just have to ask yourself the right questions in order to solve these negative emotions.

If you want to practice hearing yourself more, trying writing down thoughts and feelings as they come, whether they make sense or not, whether they are related or not. "Hey, there's a lot of dust on the cupboard" is a great start!

3. Give Yourself A Timeline

Dwelling in negative emotions for a long time is definitely unhelpful, so what's helpful would be to give yourself a timeline or deadline for letting your emotions run free. 

Although it seems counterintuitive to the previous suggestions, but by doing so, you give yourself a goal and motivation to try to solve the problem instead of letting it go on. You give yourself a reason to break the momentum of these negative feelings and a signal to pull yourself out of it.

Dealing with negative emotions isn't taught in life, but it is something we all need to learn. Remember, problems don't destroy people, emotions do. But, it hurts more to avoid it than to face it head on!