Okay Bachelor fans, I'm sure many of you will recognize this phrase haha. But on a serious note, I think it's a super interesting topic and statement. Like, what IS emotional intelligence? How is it applicable to our day to day lives? And why is it so important? (Which it is, in my opinion).

I think emotional intelligence is one of those terms/things you never realize you needed to hear/have until it was actually placed right in front of your face.
I think I've been searching for the correct term that describes the awareness of ones feelings and how they act upon those feelings and how they are able to control those feelings and "emotional intelligence" hits the nail right on the head.

Personally, I am the worst at emotional intelligence. I am really good at deciphering what I'm feeling, and what the people around me are feeling, but I don't usually know what to do about it, or how to go about it the right away. For example, I can KNOW I'm sad or stressed out and I don't have a single clue how to go about it, nor can I (generally) prevent myself from acting out on those negative feelings. When I'm angry I tend to let myself stay angry, and when I'm sad I let myself overthink all the reasons I'm sad and I tend to dwell. And a huge part of being emotionally intelligent is being able to understand one's emotions and go about them in a healthy and thought out way.

So I've thought up of three super simple ways I plan on working on becoming more "emotionally intelligent" in all areas of my life:

1. Journal. Okay, maybe not necessarily write out all my feelings in a notebook (because #whohasthetime) but brain dump occasionally and really get my feelings down on paper (or screen) so that my emotions seem more tangible. I think tricking myself into making my feelings seem like actual tangible things, I can get a better gauge as to how I can take better control of this "thing" and understand myself more.

2. Count to ten. Super lame, super mom-style, but I think this will really help me especially when I feel myself getting worked up and angry. I am the worst with anger because I let it completely overtake everything else and I end up saying/doing things I don't mean and I regret it all immediately after I've calmed down. So working on calming down as I feel myself getting angry rather than after the damage has been done will *hopefully* work some magic for me.

3. Be rubber. My main problem I have when I'm upset/sad/angry is that I think about it and stress about it and worry about it and let it make me upset/sad/angry for a long time afterwards. So working on not letting little things get to me, or have such a big impact on my emotions would be the best possible thing I could do. I am SO sensitive, I let small things hurt me. But I need to work on being tougher when it comes to negative things/situations/people who I have no control over.


I hope this post helped SOME of you out there, haha. I know that even just writing this blog makes me feel like I'm another step closer to becoming more "emotionally intelligent" and that just seeing it written out and mapped out makes the whole process feel a little easier!
Thank you for reading!
xo, me.