Regardless of what may be said. Irrespective of how tough, how hard, or how nonchalant a man acts, I can guarantee you that all men have emotions and experience a variety of feelings! And that’s FACTS! Sometimes we are the main ones to get in our feelings and act off of emotion. If you are a human, you will experience emotions and feelings; last time I checked, MEN ARE HUMANS TOO!
Society has trained and encouraged men to become emotionally unavailable and lack emotional intelligence (EQ). So we are less likely to have self-awareness, self-regulation, and even empathy for other’s feelings. They often struggle to identify, understand, manage, or cope with their emotions. Consequently, they make decisions driven by their lack of emotional control, leading to negative outcomes such as anger escalating into violence, sadness leading to substance abuse, and happiness translating into excessive spending, partying, and permanent errors.
I’m here to tell all the men, including myself, that we have to become more emotionally intelligent and leverage our emotions for positive outcomes.
As men, we can continue on the journey of becoming the best version of ourselves by learning to leverage our emotions. You can leverage your emotions by harnessing the power of those emotions to improve various aspects of our lives. Here’s how we leverage our emotions:
Identify what emotions we are experiencing at the moment
Being able to slow down in the moment, search within yourself, and recognize the specific emotion you are experiencing at a given moment is a valuable skill. You then move on to understanding what is triggering that emotion and why it’s a trigger. This can provide valuable insights into the feelings that are generated by these emotions. Being able to differentiate between various emotions can help you communicate your feelings to those around you which can lead to quicker resolve and mature interactions. Identifying your emotions is a major part of leveraging those emotions.
Use your “negative” emotions to self-correct
Every one of us encounters emotions such as sadness, anger, and frustration at various points in life. Consider these emotions as red flags. Little red flags that warn us about situations, circumstances, and even people we should stay away from or areas of our lives that may need special attention. Attention like prayer, therapy, and conversation. If we lean into these emotions in a controlled manner we can benefit greatly from it. These “negative” emotions can act as gut checks that can impact our decision-making process in a positive manner.
Use your positive emotions to inspire and motivate you
The positive emotions you experience like happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, etc. can be used as motivation to propel you to action and keep you focused on your goals. We all have dreams, goals, and aspirations. When you close your eyes and submerge yourself into the emotions and feelings you will experience once your dreams and goals are realized, this alone can serve as a driving force to keep you steadfast on the journey toward success.
It’s important to keep in mind that effectively leveraging emotions effectively can significantly enhance the quality of our lives. We are able to harness those emotions and use them for our own benefit. When we harness our emotions in this way, we become more self-disciplined, self-aware, and elevated versions of ourselves.
The little Engineer that could! Ryian Williams, wears multiple hats as a husband, father, author, speaker, and engineer. Driven by his enthusiasm for coaching and uplifting men, he has embraced the lifelong mission of guiding men toward becoming the most authentic versions of themselves
Great read as usual. Always good to remember to stay solid and on point.
Great advice! Will definitely be practicing this going forward 🙏🏽
Solid advice!!