Daily Prompt – March 15, 2026

What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

I think it’s important to start this off by saying that I learned a long time ago that there is no such thing as a negative feeling. What makes something negative is how we handle it. Sadness, grief, jealousy, anger, and envy are not inherently negative anymore than happiness, pride, love, hope, or gratitude are inherently positive. Yes, we have been taught to associate these things as positive or negative but ultimately they are just feelings. What makes them positive or negative is how we handle ourselves when we feel them.

Feeling angry for example is completely natural, expressing that anger by hurting yourself or others or by causing damage to property is a negative response to anger. Jealousy is similar, lots of people think they shouldn’t feel jealous. That’s it’s a negative response that shows a lack of trust. Trust me when I say that jealousy is completely natural. What makes it negative is responding by manipulating and/or controlling the person or situation that is creating that emotion.

This does apply to emotions like love and pride as well. We know, through myths and stories that pride in excess can lead to bad outcomes. Yet we often forget this and allow ourselves to be prideful without thought to how our response is making others feel. Love is an amazing feeling until it becomes obsessive or toxic. Think about terms like love bombing and how love has been used as a reason to stalk, assault, or worse. Again everything comes down to how we respond to the feelings we have, not the fact that we have them.

The other important aspect of this, is the need to learn to identify a feeling, to voice it and create a plan to address it. There is a difference between jealousy and envy and they require different responses. Love, lust, and infatuation are all different and require different thought processes and action plans.

Now, how do I cope when I’m having a negative response to a feeling. I start by identifying the feeling and what caused it. For me, often identifying the root cause allows me to process through the emotional response and work towards a more positive resolution. Now I am an external processor, that means I need to talk through what I’m feeling. Sometimes this is with my therapist, sometimes with my partner, or my husband, or even a good friend. However, for me, often the best way to clear the feelings from a negative response to a neutral or even positive one is to talk to the person most directly connected who still feels safe. What I mean by that is if I am angry or upset at someone, they might not feel safe to talk to about those feelings because there will be a concern at how they will react and the situation escalating. Talking to someone else who is close to the situation and understands all the moving parts however can be safe without feeling like I’m just going to get platitudes back. I always want real guidance and support not false hope and security.

Other things that can help until I can do this processing are writing, meditation, and general distractions. Many of my crafts were picked up as ways to help me deal with stress and anxiety.

The most important thing is to not let the negative thoughts sit for too long, that’s when they fester and become dangerous to my mental health and to creating a positive outcome.