I have two different strategies when I face negative feelings.  

One is super easy and the other one not so much…

Of course, the easy ones come naturally, no effort is needed. That might be why they are so easy. I have names for these easy strategies: scrolling and streaming.

Many things trigger negative feelings in a day: project outcomes, rejections from someone, colleagues’ unfriendly comments or even my habit of snoozing the alarm in the morning.

Faced with negative moments/feelings, I start scrolling my phone or iPad mindlessly. It starts with checking out fashion sites and then moves onto news-yahoo, CNN, MSN etc.

Don’t even get me started on the weekend approach: streaming. With one negative moment, I am becoming a couch potato in front of the TV with a remote and actual potato chips! Ready to forget the bad feelings!

While scrolling/streaming, my negative thoughts/worries disappear…at least in those hours of finger-moving. Of course, the problem with this easy approach is that I feel worse afterward.  

My initial negative feelings became much bigger after the scrolling/streaming habits.

With years of repeating these damaging negative moments turning into negative days and weeks – I was ready to try something different: going out.

Instead of staying at the same location (where the bad moments started), I decided to change the scenery.

That is how my “not so easy” approach to dealing with negative feelings started. Years ago, going out after receiving one of those rejection emails prompted me to try something else.

Feeling the various unhelpful emotions- frustration, anger, bitterness, even resentment of why bother- I told myself not to make these moments worse by starting my usual coping mechanism: scrolling/streaming.

I went out with 3 items: phone, earpod and wallet.

After coming back from walking/listening to podcasts, somehow the sensation of negative feelings was not as strong as when I headed out.  

Unhelpful feelings were still there…but the urge to scroll/stream has subsided. I was ready to face my remaining work day!

It has been years since I implemented the go-out strategy for dealing with negative feelings, however the success rate hovers around beearly passing 60%.  

Scrolling/Streaming are powerful forces in the face of negative moments. However, I am getting better at recognizing those moments and choosing to be intensional rather than reactionary.  

Here’s the story of that fateful day I found the productive (and also healthy) way to cope with negative feelings.