Mental toughness - How can I deal with emotional pain?

I am currently facing the same problem. I have feeling I know I need to process but I don’t know how. After spending my entire life avoiding these feelings I have no healthy way to deal. I am feeling drawn to my old ways of coping but even though I have not let myself go there I am finding new ways of avoiding it. I’m focusing on getting other things done, scheduling too much to do for the time I have, and getting stressed out about not finishing.

I don’t have an answer for you but I can relate to the problem.

 

There are a few things I use to get through hard time in life with a lot of emotional pain. In my case it worked for a depression, heartbreaks, a failed suicide attempt, and multiple addictions.

Writing or journaling or whatever you want to call it has helped me recover from all the shit in my life. I keep a journal on this forum and I pour my heart out whenever I feel like it. If old memories still upset you, write them down carefully and completely.

I enjoy lifting weights, and I will probably continue lifting for the rest of my life. But whenever I go through hard times, running is a great way to cope with the pain. Do not bring headphones or listen to music. Just go out there and go to war with your thoughts.

And lastly, talk to people about what bothers you. I know it difficult to trust people, but when you find someone you can trust and talk to, that man or woman will be your savior.

I wish you all the best. Good luck.

 

There is a simple technique I learnt last week to distract your thought energy away from consciousness from a guy called Eckhart Tolle on youtube. It involves directing your thoughts to a part of your body instead of trying to replace them with other thoughts (which is the common approach), this way your attention is no longer on the thought that's making you feel sad or whatever, it's shifting away from the mind to your body.

I used this for my OCD and it worked. I'm sure it could work with sadness and negativity as it loops the same way.