Become aware of your daily emotion management

Do you recognize this? You start the day full of energy. However, at a later point, you begin to feel less energetic, and by evening, you may even feel tired or exhausted. I struggled with this in the past, and nowadays, I coach others who experience similar challenges.

You possess empathy: you see and hear others, which is a powerful trait. On the flip side, it's possible to empathize so deeply that you essentially place yourself in their shoes, intensely experiencing the other person's emotions.

In addition to perceiving these emotions from others, they may be so familiar from your own experiences that you project them onto yourself. What happens in that moment is that you absorb the other person's emotion, carrying it with you throughout the day.

When it comes to positive emotions, this doesn't have much additional impact. However, it often involves negative emotions like anger, resistance, sadness, or pain. This means recognizing the other person's emotion and connecting it with your own thoughts based on a similar situation from your past, inadvertently adopting that emotion.

Imagine you have a team day, participating in team activities and interacting with various colleagues. In this scenario, you pick up on your colleagues' emotions—some are positive and looking forward to the team day, while others, due to personal circumstances like uncertainty, resistance, and fear, carry more intense emotions. Through your empathetic conversations, you may experience these emotions. If you recognize a situation, there's a high chance you unconsciously absorb that emotion. This happens in a matter of seconds. By the end of the day, you carry a variety of emotions from others, which can be quite exhausting and deplete your energy, energy that could have been used for your family or personal goals.

This also happens on a personal level, particularly with those close to you. You feel so connected to the other person that you might automatically adopt their emotions. For instance, after being in a positive vibe all day, you come home and suddenly feel irritated, angry, or rebellious. During dinner, you discover that your partner had an issue with a colleague.

How do you turn this around?

You can change this by first becoming aware during a conversation that the emotion you're perceiving comes from the other person, not from you. Once you recognize this, tell yourself, "These are the other person's emotions, and I am letting them go now." Repeat this phrase, letting go of the emotion associated with the other person.

It's really that simple because you don't make the mental connection that the emotion you perceive is yours. It takes practice to repeat this throughout the day until it becomes a habit, allowing you to perceive the other person's emotion and let it stay with them. This way, you stay in your power and can focus on what gives you energy!