Dealing With Frustrations

Frustration is a feeling of dissatisfaction often accompanied by anxiety or depression, resulting from unfulfilled needs or unresolved problems. When you feel that your efforts are being blocked or cannot be achieved, it is quite common to become frustrated. The emotion of frustration is experienced when you feel that your efforts are not producing rewards. When we make an effort at something and it doesn't reap the desired result, we may end up feeling as if our time and energy is being spent to no avail and that our efforts are worthless. Anger, irritation and discouragement may accompany the feeling. Modern living also contributes significantly to feeling frustrated – increased workloads, managing family, financial and social responsibilities, technology and the crime rate in your country.


What Causes Frustration?
Depending on the situation and circumstances, frustration is generally the outcome of negative emotions and varies from person to person. Very often you may experience a range of negative emotions such as anger, resentment, annoyance, jealousy, distrust, or envy as a result of the frustration. Everyday situations can bring about frustration – for example, being in stuck in traffic makes you late for an important meeting or your child needs your help completing a school project but only tells you about it one day before it is due.

People often experience personal frustration when they are dealing with their own weaknesses, insecurities and inabilities. For instance if you and your partner are encountering a communication breakdown, frustration often sets in when both of you fail to connect with each other. Misinterpreting a situation or overanalyzing what someone said can cause unwanted levels of frustration.

If frustration is not dealt with effectively, it can lead to more serious emotional issues such as anxiety, depression, phobias, loneliness and loss of self worth. For this reason, maintaining a positive outlook on life by not sweating the small stuff, creating a balanced lifestyle and learning to relax and having a bit of fun can make a huge difference in managing your levels of frustration.

Here are some simple and effective ways you can use to deal with frustrations and release negative feelings without anger:

• Express your emotions in a healthy way by talking about your feelings (what is bothering you) to someone that you trust
• Get active – release frustration and tension by exercising, running, kickboxing, dancing or hitting a punching bag or pillow
• Clear your mind by going to a quiet place where you can think – a long walk on the beach or drive will help you to gain renewed perspective
• Set realistic goals and expectations for yourself and others. In this way, you will avoid unnecessary disappointment and not put so much pressure on yourself
• Keep a journal where you write down your thoughts – by doing this you are organizing your thought patterns and
• Stop complaining about what is frustrating you and do something positive about it. If you find that there is nothing that you can do about it, then it is time that you realize that you are achieving nothing by becoming frustrated
• Stay positive, try to remain upbeat and look on the brighter side of things. Being negative will just draw into feeling hopeless and depressed
• Try not to take things personally – sometimes someone’s behavior is not directed towards you even though you may think that. Very often people tend to be very wrapped up in themselves and their actions towards you are a result of their own mind set.
• Have a good, old cry – by releasing all that pent up emotion will immediately make you feel better.