How do I keep myself from overreacting?

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. When you feel like flying off the handle, take a deep breath. Deep breathing slows down your fight or flight response and allows you to calm your nervous system and choose a more thoughtful and productive response. Lack of sleep, going too long without food or water, lack of recreation can leave your mind and body vulnerable to exaggerated responses. Prioritizing your own self-care will help minimize overreactions.

Hey there! It sounds like you are struggling with overreacting and want to stop. I knew I had to answer this question when I saw it because that is something I do too! I really feel for you and would like to share a few simple tips that may help you. 1. Observe: How is your body acting before you overreact? Do you feel agitated or like your heart is racing or feel hot and angry. There are many possible ways and it may take time to figure this out! 2. Pause: As you start to get in tune with those signs and you feel you might overreact by doing or saying something, pause. This may mean keeping quiet and observing more, distracting yourself with a walk, or just closing your eyes. See what works for you. As you practice pausing, it will get easier to calm yourself. 3. Reflect: Later when you feel more calm, replay what happened. How did everything turn out. Were you able to manage your emotions better? What could be done differently? What did you learn? Considering these questions will help you next time! 4. Go easy: Remember that overreacting is about emotions and feelings which are normal. If you make a mistake or so something that you regret, you can still learn from it. Be gentle with yourself. Remember: Observe, Pause, Reflect, Go Easy Best of luck on your journey. The fact that you even asked the question shows that you are thinking about yourself and showing self-awareness, a key step in managing emotions.

Drink water. A lot of the time people confuse thirst for hunger. If you don't like plain water you can add sugar-free/calorie-free flavoring drops or powders. Choose healthier foods with lower calorie density: fruits, vegetables, chicken, white fish, eggs, legumes. Make sure you are eating correct portions (weight is more accurate than volume for most things). Eat slower. Practice mindfulness (which is good for your mental health) and pay attention to the smell, taste, texture, temperature of your food. Enjoy it. Stop eating when you are satisfied (not full). Make sure that you are actually hungry and not thirsty, bored, or emotional. If you are bored then go brush your teeth - it will distract you in the moment, and after you won't want to eat because your teeth are freshly brushed. If you are emotional then practice self-care.

To keep yourself from overreacting it is important to give your self time, the best way is to count till 10 before reacting to anything. A lot of times when something happens are instant reactions seems to be heated, if we take a moment to think about it, our body and mind gets some time to come back to a state of equilibrium, in this state we can make decisions and rationally. Just a matter of few seconds can make all the difference. It is also important to try and understand why you overreacted or when is it that you feel you often overreact- try to find any patterns, and if you see any similarity, avoid entering into that particular situation or talk to a therapist on how you can deal with that situation.

I think a useful skill to learn here is a) observation, b) control. What I mean by observation is you observe your reactions in certain situations. This is not a short process, but over time, you'll learn your triggers and sensitive spots. Also, monitoring your arousal is a key to. For example, you get in a debate with someone. You monitor your arousal, and when you feel like it's going up, and you are about to lose control, you bring in the second aspect, control. There are a lot of ways to exercise control, like stopping for a second or two, stopping and taking a deep breath and so on. This needs to be cultivated over time, it's a long journey but it's definitely worth it.

Pause. Take a moment to let yourself process what has happened. Ask yourself, "will this matter next week? Next month?" Acting based on pure emotion causes more stress. Know your triggers, they make you more aware of yourself and your reactions. Think of the effects of your actions upon others, as well as upon your emotional and physical well-being. Venting is healthy, but there's a time and place for everything. Overreacting to situations, more times than not, will leave you feeling worse than when you started. Reactions are inevitable, how we choose to react is a choice. The more right choices we make in life, the better prepared we are to put situations in the proper perspective.

Being able to put things into perspective, and identify the true magnitude of the situation can help keep from overreacting. A reaction comes from an emotion, so an emotion like anger or fear can make us exacerbate the problem even if it doesn't require such a high level of response. So staying calm, thinking rationally through the situation and using logic instead of emotion can help. Not panicking and not freaking out can control the impulse to over react can help. It takes practice and it doesn't always magically happen this way overnight. Hope this helps, have a good day!

Welcome; I'm FrostWire and I'm 7cups supporting listener. The question is "how do i keep myself from overreacting?" ..hmm. Well; i have had my fair share of this as a person who suffers from disabilities. I found myself leaving my own home for things that I had done myself. I really would do things i had seen others do in small ways at home without even knowing or noticing until i was overwhelmed with myself thought. i jumped to conclusions, stated things out loud presenting misfortune to my home. It served me self slammed doors, running water to drown out thoughts, calisthenics to wear my body down so i can slow down and recognize who an what i'm around. Overreacting has even been in my parents life, "OMG". But I believe in you to make the rite decision for yourself. Sometimes reactions happen because we need those reflexes. training those reflexes is our responsibility though rite? Practice makes perfect, just as Perfect practice makes you stronger in your teachings. I'm FrostWire Your supporting listener and i thank you for choosing 7cups.com for your everyday questions.

At times when it is relevant, the way in which I keep myself from overreacting is that I take deep breaths and acknowledge what it is that I’m feeling. Then I reflect on whether it is something that will bother me in a day or in a few years time. If it doesn’t seem like a long time concern then it usually calms me down knowing that the difficult feeling will pass before I know it. Another way that I deal with it is by taking myself out of the situation if it is a conversation that I know I will overreact about in the moment, so I find it’s important to take myself out of it and reflect on a better reaction.

go over what happened and consider all the details and why that happened. Put yourself in the other person’s position and consider their feelings and if you would have reacted in the same way. Do not make assumptions or jump to conclusions. Ask questions and try to understand. I used to overreact all the time. It became a big problem in my relationship with my S/O. I overcame it by thinking before reacting. I listened to what they had to say and considered their feelings and how they felt and thought about what happened and why it happened. I rate it in my head, “is this serious? Or is this minor? Is getting mad over this worth my time and energy? Is it worth arguing over? Is it really that important?”