How do I keep myself from overreacting?

take some deep breaths. It can help when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Ask yourself is this really as big as it is in my head? Taking a step back can really help when you want to keep your self from over reacting and turning things in to bigger deals then they really are! Over reacting is some thing that i my self struggle with but i have learned that I have to take a couple deep breaths before i go and react. that has also really helped me keep my self from over reacting.

There are two kinds of overreactions: external and internal. External overreactions are visible responses that others can see (for example, lashing out in anger, throwing your hands up and walking away from a situation). Internal overreactions are emotional responses that remain inside of you that others may or may not be aware of. Examples of internal overreactions are replaying a situation over and over in your head, wondering if you said the right thing, or overanalyzing a comment made by a friend or loved one. Remember, not all intense responses are overreactions. In some instances, a quick and extreme response is necessary to protect ourselves or our loved ones. I recall a time years ago when my oldest child was a toddler riding his trike down the street. He was riding ahead of me because I was pregnant and a lot slower than usual. I noticed a car slowly backing out of a driveway as my son was riding toward the driveway. I found myself sprinting toward the car, screaming at the top of my lungs with arms flailing frantically, trying to get the driver’s attention and avoid a horrible tragedy. Luckily, the driver noticed me and stopped her car just short of my son and his bike. My exaggerated response was necessary to save his life and was not an overreaction.

To keep yourself from overreacting, it might help to ask yourself whether or not your thoughts are true and based on facts. The automatic negative thoughts we can sometimes have like all or nothing thinking or fortune telling - when we don't question them and whether they are true and based on facts, the thoughts build on each other and continue. Often reality checking can help as well, or asking if the situation you find yourself in would matter in 5 years. This involves taking a minute to remove yourself from the situation, to take a step back and be an objective observer. Easier said than done, I know, but with some practice, you will be able to better manage your emotions and in some ways, go with the flow - so that any setbacks or challenges you may experience don't become more than they actually are. You will get through this and the feelings you are feeling will pass.

I take part in stoic exercises to train myself to not overreact. I always take time at the end of the day to review and track what I have done and ask myself honestly if I handled that situation well or if I could perhaps have done better. I also regularly do an awareness exercise. every once in a while I stop and just say to myself "I am aware of...." then say "I am aware that I am feeling....." this helps me to stay on track and helps me to keep from letting my emotions get out of control and cause me to overreact. Perhaps these simple exercises could help.

I have learnt to think before acting, and calm my mind and thoughts. I also tell myself that there is no point in doing it, it is not worth it this time, it will only make things get worse. Keeping myself calm all the time helps a lot. I have never been like this, but I learnt to. The conversation you have with yourself at that moment is very helpful and powerful. Take a deep breath, and repeat that it's not worth it. Overreacting get things toxic in both your relationship with the other person and your relationship with yourself.

Delaying your response to something often helps. Our immediate reaction is not often our final one because often we're looking through a lens that is made blurry by our thoughts and feelings about something. Make no action or response to something until you are not rushing through it because when you are, you're ONLY writing out your blurry lens opinion. For example, Someone has sent a infuriating text to me. My initial reaction would be writing paragraphs of response to them telling them why they are wrong or that I'm angry and they're being horrible. Chances are I'd saw some awful things and would harm my relationship with that person. My rule for this situation is I either need to sleep first and respond the next day or afternoon after I have completely gathered my thoughts, Or I try to respond but if I can't write slowly or it gets emotional, then I rewrite, or stop and answer in a few hours. It's a little harder in person. In that case it's not rude to ask for some time to process what they've said and tell them that you're wanting to respond rationally to them.

This depends greatly on how you define over-reacting. When a stressful event occurs is it more of a emotional reaction where you know it isn’t the end of the world but you can’t control your emotional response? Putting things into perspective can be very difficult, and especially frustrating when you know you are over-reacting but don’t know how to calm down. You also need to know that even if not everyone experience an event in the same way, that does not make your perspective any less real. There is no need to be ashamed of how you feel about a particular thing because our emotions dictate how significant an event truly is. Breathing Exercises Have helped me calm myself during a stressful event in the past. I would also suggest talk therapy if you have access to it. There is nothing more relieving than having an expert tell you you’re not crazy! Don’t be afraid to ask for help

In situations where I start to feel anger or frustration, I try to catch those feelings as fast as I can. I used to always show those reactions in a negative way and overacted many times. Once I started to understand myself a bit more, I became more mature in the way I handled situations. For example, someone I knew before did something that left me rattled and quite mad. Although my initial reaction was to stay mad and not talk to that person, I caught myself. I took a couple minutes for myself to calm down, and I calmly approached that person to explain why I had reacted that way, apologized for the rash behavior, and asked how she felt so that I understood her perspective as well. There may be many times when we feel as though we are overreacting, but over time we can be able to understood our emotions as well as others' in order to keep a healthy environment.

I think the most important thing to remember is that your feelings are valid, and to accept your feelings instead of beating yourself up over them! It may help to write your feelings down, either on paper, to a listener, or to a friend, and see if they seem as realistic on paper or on a screen. Grounding techniques also help me a ton when my thoughts are getting out of control. Try naming 5 things you can hear, 5 things you can see, and 5 things you can touch. It grounds you in the present moment and often helps manage those feelings.

Try to think before reacting. As you are trying to stop overreacting you must have had some experience with it. Rethink about those situations and the consequences again in clear mind. Try to improvise your communication skill and your ability of expressing a feeling clearly. You will surely succeed. Sometimes our reactions depends on the person we ae dealing with. It's like, some people really don't want to understand you and yes I know a lot of them exist. You have to prearrange some tricky points to express yourself to them which will convince them the most. In that case you have to observe their personality type. Hope this will help. Best of luck.