The ability to block certain emotions attached to life experiences is called compartmentalizing. To answer the question you probably have in your mind ― No, suppressing your emotions is not a bad thing… well, in some situations.
For example, a police officer heading into a building where people are being held hostage at gunpoint by a robber needs to get their head in the game. If they lose an inch of focus, they will end up getting hit or, worst, dead. They can’t be thinking about their family in the middle of a stealth operation.
Trying to stay focused and building a mental barrier that keeps you away from a problem can be a little difficult. Compartmentalizing comes to your rescue in such situations and gets you out of an impossible situation you are stuck in, such as spending time with your family and worrying about an incomplete work project. The former takes precedence, and the latter can be done by setting a schedule.
Why Is It Important to Compartmentalize Your Emotions?
In today’s competitive world, knowledge is at everyone’s fingertips. You can get information about anything online that makes you irreplaceable. That time isn’t far when we will be replaced with robots for the small odd jobs.
So, what sets us apart from other people and robots?
Our emotions!
Your strategic thinking skills won’t be of any use if you lose your calm in the middle of a difficult situation. This is not about conquering fear or stress management. You simply need to be present at the moment and make sure that your thoughts don’t scatter away from the task at hand.
How to do that? Let’s talk about it:
Identify Your Emotions
The first step that will require you to open yourself up is identifying your emotions. Do not put everything on depression and anxiety. Look for the underlying cause such as if you are feeling down after a long day of work, what led to it? Did something happen at work that got you thinking about life? Did a conversation trigger a deep wound and now you can’t seem to forget it? Once you have found the cause, you can work on it to come up with a solution.
Remove Distractions
You now know the reason behind your out-of-control emotions. It’s time to prioritize! If you are working on something, give it your complete attention. Stop using your mobile in the middle. The more freely you will work, the more the other emotions will try to get in. Immerse yourself in the task by putting other worries in a box, which can be opened later without feeling overwhelmed.
Create a Schedule
Our mental health suffers when we have several tasks to do because our attention is divided. Multi-tasking sometimes has a negative impact as it shifts your focus from one thing to another. The constant shift back and forth overwhelms you, which is why you feel as you are all over the place. This is why you need to create a schedule, where you can work on one thing for a specific amount of time and give everything else a rest.
Let Work Stay at Work
Your personal and professional life always suffers due to overthinking. If fulfillment is what you seek, make sure that you don’t bring work home.
Compartmentalizing should always be done in a healthy way. Do not suppress those emotions that you know will offer you relief, or you will end up making rash decisions in the heat of the moment. As explained earlier, emotions that you know will hinder your progress are the only ones that need to be locked in a box temporarily.