To Be More Emotionally Stable, Drop These 5 Mental Habits

It’s a common belief that some people are just highly emotional by nature while others have a more stoic and balanced temperament.

And even though there are likely some genetic influences on how emotional we are, the much bigger influence is something most people don’t realize:

It’s your habits that determine how emotional you feel, especially your mental habits.

In my job as a psychologist, I work with people every day who feel emotionally unstable and volatile:

  • They get lost in spirals of worry and anxiety.
  • They get stuck in bouts of depression and low mood.
  • They get angry and upset at the smallest stress or difficulty.

But it’s been my experience that what leads to all this emotional instability is a collection of subtle but powerful mental habits. Usually, these habits were learned and reinforced long ago in early childhood but never got unlearned.

Thankfully, anyone can learn to become more emotionally stable. The key is to identify and eliminate these unhelpful mental habits that cause so much excess emotional suffering.

Let go of these five unhelpful mental habits and you’ll discover that you’re a far more emotionally stable person that you ever imagined—capable of experiencing all your emotions without getting overwhelmed by them.


Believing everything you think

Just because you have a thought doesn’t make it true.

As humans, our ability to think rationally and creatively is one of our greatest strengths. Without it, we wouldn’t have Beethoven’s sonatas, democratic forms of government, the novels of Charles Dickens, or a cure for polio.

But for every interesting, creative, or even genius idea our minds produce, it also generates hundreds, if not thousands, of silly, irrational, or just plain bizarre thoughts that have no meaning whatsoever.

Here’s an example:

2 + 2 = 5. If you read that, the thought 2 + 2 = 5 was in your head. But the simple fact that you thought it doesn’t make it true.

But it’s not just irrational thoughts that our mind produces. The mind is also capable of generating thoughts that are actually unhelpful or even downright evil. Thoughts can lead to concentration camps and chemical warfare just as easily as Habitat for Humanity or the Peace Corp.

The point is this:

Your thoughts are not inherently true or helpful. And to assume they are is a recipe for emotional suffering.

When you assume every thought your mind throws at you is true, you end up thinking more about that though:

  • If an irrational worry about your spouse dying in a car crash on their way home from work pops into your mind, your habit of believing all your thoughts is going to lead to a lot of excess anxiety.
  • If an irrational judgment of a coworker pops into your mind, your habit of believing all your thoughts is going to lead to a lot of excess frustration and possibly rude behavior.
  • If some negative self-talk about a recent mistake you made pops into your mind, your habit of believing all your thoughts is going to lead to a lot of excess guilt and shame.

Overthinking is at the root of most forms of emotional suffering. Stop believing that all your thoughts are true, and you’ll stop overthinking so much.

Don’t believe everything you think. Thoughts are just that—thoughts.

— Allan Lokos

Judging yourself for how you feel

It doesn’t make sense to judge yourself for things you can’t control, especially your emotions.

No legal system in the world that I’m aware of would sentence someone to prison for feeling angry. No matter how rageful a person felt, as a society, we only judge people for what they do—for their behavior.

And the reason for this is simple: It doesn’t make sense to judge someone for something they can’t control. And you can’t directly control how you feel: you can’t just turn down your sadness any more than you can crank up your happiness!

But it’s a strange quirk of human nature that while we know this is true, especially for other people, we ignore it when it comes to ourselves:

  • We empathize with other people for feeling anxious but tell ourselves we’re weak the minute we start to feel nervous about something.
  • We’re understanding with friends who are feeling depressed or grieving, but we tell ourselves to “suck it up” and “stop being such lazy bum!”

It’s more than a little ironic:

You’re compassionate with your friends when they feel bad, but the moment you begin to suffer emotionally, you criticize yourself for it!

One of the problems with judging yourself for how you feel is that it adds a second layer of painful emotion on top of the pain you already feel:

  • When you put yourself down for feeling sad, now you feel sad and ashamed.
  • When you worry about feeling angry, you feel anxious on top of feeling angry.
  • When you criticize yourself for feeling afraid, now you feel frustrated and scared.

Feeling bad is hard enough without making yourself feel bad for feeling bad.

If you want to break free of the habit of criticizing yourself for how you feel, learn to practice a little self-compassion.

Be curious, not judgmental.

— Walt Whitman

Needing to find meaning in everything

Looking for meaning in everything is often a defense mechanism against the fear of uncertainty.

It’s human nature to dislike uncertainty. From which color shoes to buy to committing to a spouse in marriage, there will almost always be some uncertainty in our decisions, and along with it, some anxiety.

But for some people—especially those raised in chaotic or extremely unpredictable environments—they’ve learned to view uncertainty as dangerous and to be avoided at all costs. And one common way to avoid the anxiety of uncertainty is to read meaning into everything.

By telling ourselves that everything means something, we give ourselves the illusion of certainty.

But if you constantly rely on meaning-making as a crutch to alleviate the anxiety of uncertainty, your tolerance for uncertainty gets weaker and weaker.

And at some point, reality will catch up to you, demanding that you face up to the fundamental uncertainty of life:

  • Maybe a close friend dies tragically at a young age for “no good reason.”
  • Maybe you get laid off from your dream job for “no good reason.”
  • Maybe your spouse leaves you for “no good reason.”

Making up stories about how it all means something eventually stops working when the uncertainty becomes big enough. And if you haven’t built the emotional strength to tolerate uncertainty, your moods and emotions will suffer profoundly. Depression and severe anxiety are often the results.

Emotionally stable people have the strength and willingness to accept uncertainty for what it is—to look an uncertain future in the face and accept it.

Practice accepting uncertainty in small ways and you’ll be able to handle it confidently when it arrives in big ways—as it always does eventually.

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

— William James

Trying to control everything

Control issues are usually a sign of insecurity and a fear of helplessness.

Just like the need to find meaning everywhere is a sign you’re afraid of uncertainty, needing to control everything is a sign you’re afraid to feel helpless.

Trouble is, you are helpless. At least in a lot of cases. It’s simply the nature of life that we can’t control everything we wish we could:

  • You can’t control whether your best friend stops smoking so much weed every day.
  • You can’t control whether your boss thinks you’re smart.
  • You can’t control whether your spouse feels stressed out at the end of the day.

Your power and influence in this life are limited.

You can try to influence people in the way you think is best, but it’s a mistake to assume responsibility for the outcomes.

When your unconscious belief is that you should be able to control the outcome of everything, you end up with unrealistically high expectations for yourself. And inevitably, these expectations get violated, leading to big emotional swings:

  • You walk in on your best friend smoking weed after he told you he’d quit, leading to a surge of frustration and disappointment.
  • Your boss gives you a bunch of negative feedback after a presentation you thought was great leading to shame and self-doubt.
  • Your spouse comes home stressed again despite the fact that you called them that day at lunch to check in leading to anger and resentment.

Remind yourself that it’s okay to feel helpless. Sometimes we just can’t help. Living in denial about that isn’t going to help anyone in the long run—least of all yourself.

Lowering your expectations to a realistic level doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means you’re being honest with yourself.

Finally, have the humility to accept that you can’t control nearly as much as you’d like. Do your best, but don’t pretend that you’re God.

A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control.

— Naval Ravikant

Making decisions based on emotions instead of values

People who spend their time running away from painful feelings usually have no energy left for the things that matter most—their highest aspirations.

We all want to feel good. But the decision to feel good now often comes at a heavy cost for how we feel later:

  • Asking a friend for reassurance when you’re worried feels better now. But in the long-run, you’re teaching your brain that you’re not capable of dealing with your own anxiety. This erodes your confidence and makes you more anxious long-term.
  • Letting that sarcastic comment fly during an argument with your spouse feels good in the moment. But in the long-run, you’re destroying trust in your relationship.
  • Staying in bed because you’re not motivated feels better now. But in the long-run, you’re killing your self-esteem because you’re training your mind not to believe that you follow through on your commitments to yourself.

It’s not that emotions and feelings are bad or always misleading: sometimes they’re quite useful!

But it’s a mistake to treat your feelings as gospel: The reality is that our emotions are often in direct conflict with our values.

If you want to feel more emotionally balanced, you must learn to subordinate your feelings to your values.

And the best way to do this is by consistently reminding yourself of those values and aspirations:

  • Do I care about feeling cozy in bed or getting down to my goal weight and being healthy and vital?
  • Do I care about feeling less anxious now or become a confident person?
  • Do I care about feeling right or having a good relationship with my spouse?

You can make decisions based on how you want to feel or your values. Choose wisely.

Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.

— Viktor Frankl


All You Need to Know

Everyone experiences painful emotions. Becoming a more emotionally stable person means that you improve your relationship with your emotions by cultivating healthy ways of responding to them:

Don’t believe everything you think.

Resist judging yourself for how you feel.

Let go of your need to find meaning in everything.

Give up trying to control everything.

Make decisions based on your values, not your feelings.

108 Comments

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Reading this article was so good for me. It made me realize that I am ok. I already use many of the responses mentioned. I have thought I was uncaring, but it turns out I care, I just don’t let anything overwhelm me. Thank you.

Thank you so much, for writing and sharing this article with us, so much needed, please share more about handling emotions and emotional health

Thanks Nick. Great insight on the focus on Values. I am trying to reframe actions based on question: Does what I am about to do (action) align with a majority of values? Emotions may be just a warning that it is time for a value check.

Nick, I especially liked being reminded that our thoughts are not always aligned with reality. It’s easy to spin scenarios in our minds based on our fears and insecurities rather than knowing we are essentially making things up.

Such a great article.I just realized some things that I do subconsciously,Thank you for writing it.

Thank you🥺 this is the most relatable article I’ve come across so far. Thank you for writing this. I’m going to start using these tips one by one and be gentle with the process

Can you share the sources for your quotations? I’d like to dig deeper into some of the authors you cite.

Hey Tina, I think just Googling them would be the simplest way. —Nick

Thanks Nick, great piece. I find that stepping back and describing how I feel as a 6 year old would (“I’m mad”, “I’m scared”) helps so much with demystifying emotions and makes room for value-based reasoning to interject.

Thank you Nick. Love the values based decision making. I use that in my coaching practice. It really resonates.

Thanks for explaining the things related to emotional stability very well.Every point mentioned has it’s own importance and should be understood well for self improvement.

Dear Nick,
Thanks for your nice and helpful article. Indeed, I guess it is well suited for anxiety that comes from concrete matters. But sometimes, certain irrational thoughts or some given daily life situations induce a high and lasting level of anxiety. The problem is not to believe in them. The problem is to learn not to be overwhelmed by them. What is your experience and your opinion on these kinds of anxiety triggers ?
Thank you

Hey Philippe, imo not getting stuck in anxiety is a result of good attentional control—you have to be able to move your attention off of worries and onto something else. This is muscle that takes training to improve. Personally, I’ve found a regular mindfulness practice to be the best way to do it.

Thanks a million, Nick!
This piece of writing really helped me complement my understanding in the matter!!

This article was sent to me by a friend. I find it very helpful as it explained a whole lot about judging and criticising myself.

Nick, I’ve made a lot of trips around the sun, and still have so much to learn about living life well. Thank you for raising my awareness– choosing curiosity over self-judgement…to learn how to “subordinate feelings to values”– these ideas point to a real game changer…a way to get “un-stuck” in some pretty sticky thinking habits. Thank you!

Thanks, Shanti 🙂 Learning from each other is one of the great joys in life, no?

Nick, thank you so much for this article. My relationship just ended because of my emotional unstability and now I am trying to understand it better. This article really helped me see all the things I do that are not helping me become stable. I am trying to implement these tips day by day. Thank you

Am I the only one questioning some of this? The fundamental statements, I believe Can be true. But I also think sometimes people ‘give up’ too easily and the explanation is “I did what I could ‘ or ‘they’ll just have to learn the hard way'”. Why not keep trying to help someone even if it’s hard to handle or causes me anxiety. I don’t want to be anxious but I don’t want to give up trying to do better, or be a better person, mom, wife, friend.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” Thomas Edison
“If you’re going through hell, keep going”
Winston Churchill
A therapist tried explaining ‘conscientious neglect’… I still don’t get it.
I have a lot of difficulty with relationships in my family and I had a therapist say, “Then why do you want them in your life?” Really???

When I try to do the right thing and am told things like that, I honestly dont know what is correct.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Cindy.

I don’t think anyone can tell you what is “correct” for you to do in an absolute sense.

We take in other people’s perspectives, assess them for ourselves, and use them if they seem correct or drop them if they don’t.

My hope is that for some people, the ideas in this article are thought-provoking or useful.

Going to read this everyday. I needed this article. My Pastor sent this to me and it is an excellent read. I will get better.

Hi Nick, thanks for the advice in this article. Thinking about reaching a larger audience, I translated it to Portuguese. Do you allow me to publish the translated version in Medium?

Hi Renato, I don’t mind as long as you credit me as the author. Although, I believe Medium has pretty strict re-publish rules so you might want to check with them first.

I really really thank you so much for writing such an amazing article. I am reading this while going back to home from work. I was feeling lost. But ur words made me feel like everything is going to be okay.

i loved this article , i struggle a lot in controling my emotions and often i get carried away by them hurting ppl around me simply cuz i want to control or i wish something was different and get mad easily. This was great thank you. i will read this everyday to feed my mind with the right information so i can get closer to my goal

This is so me! And on top of,it all I just had a baby 2 weeks ago so now I also face PPD. Its so hard! I need help.

Thank you, thank you so much for writing this article. I was able to calm myself down now. I felt this for years and now I just realized what those problems are. You helped me solve a lot of my worries. Thank you once again.

You have been able to put words on patterns for which I took years to identify ! Thank you so much for your work <3

I am intensly worried about my emotional instability. I cant keep anything stable in my life because of this. I don’t remember when was the last time, i felt happy from deep inside. I don’t know what to do.

This is a life changing article. Thank you so much. I’m about to start going back to therapy on Monday. I am so inspired and freed by this article. It really really helped me. Thank you so much. I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me and how much my mind and soul grew reading it. Training wheels for my brain.

Love-sherry

Having gone through this article, I see nothing but a life-transforming sermon! I wouldn’t say it’s a secular write-up because Christianity emphasises the importance of total submission (to the will of God) as a pathway to an enduring inner peace. We submit to God’s will when we worry less, when we try to rationalize happenings, when we try to control & find meaning in everything, in which most of the time, there’s never an answer or a “good reason” for the many “whys” we seek to understand.

Nick, this is a sermon of all time! Thank you!

Amazing! This article has help solidified my understanding of emotional intelligence and helped me understand my thoughts. Thank you so much Nick!

Ohh Man this article is so meaningful for me, I always accountable my self for others people emotions attached with me. But I now realized that we can’t control other people emotions.

Complete trash. You have no control yet you need to control emotions that aren’t hip in today’s godless, selfish, media controlled society. Sounds like justified narcissism. Serve your brothers and sisters. For what would a man gain if he inherited the earth but lost his soul. Dont give up on meaning. Nothing is an accident. Your emotions are real. Truth is absolute.

if these people are trying to better themselves than how are they narcissistic, because i don’t want to be narcissistic toward people or have narcissistic traits. when emotional instability shows in ones life and they are defensive of themselves in their head at times over thinking etc does it mean they are slightly narcissistic it is very confusing because it slightly makes sense but at the same time, these beings are emotionally unstable.

This is honestly the best article that I have come across in a very long time. Maybe I liked it because I could relate very well with most of the things written here. I have to say its as insightful and useful to me as a university textbook. Loved it. Saving it:)

Eye opening and relatable. I printed out the last part and now will keep it with me as a reminder of the direction I want to go .

Thank you !

Those 5 pints are very helpful, I tried finding meaning to everything bad happening to me but now I no more think about it…I thought I can control other’s feelings for me and I used to put all of my efforts to it but all I got was despair but ow I know that its not in my hand, its their life, why should I try to control their feelings for me…and ya, I used to judge myself a lot, like literally a lot and that constantly made me feel like I am mean and immature, I used to get driven by my feelings but now I see, I have to do things on the basis of my “values”.
thank you so much for this article and especially those 5 tips….

Such a great article! Thanks for detailing it out. I’m a little stuck on the values and feelings connection. This article is so helpful and would love to fully understand the connection so I can work on it.

This is one of the best posts on Internet that I have come across on emotional intelligence. It gave me great insights into how my mind works and how to manage my painful emotions so that I can become more emotionally balanced and centered person. Thanks for such a wonderful post.

I do care about feeling cozy in bed, and giving myself some time to…feel cozy in bed. Not to rush things; I have plenty of time.

Thank you so much for this article. I am a natural worry-wart. I have been diagnosed with bipolar I and generalized anxiety disorder. I have obsessive-compulsive tendencies and tendencies towards ruminating.
I have to accept that I cannot control others. I worried so much about my best friend moving in with a guy way too quickly into their relationship. Everything turned out fine even though I think she should have got to know him better before moving in.
I do not know if you are religious but the serenity prayer definitely helps.
Thank you so much !!!

I’ve read this and I can relate to some of it, although I don’t believe my issues stem from childhood.
There are more recent and I have trouble adapting so utilise some of your recommendations because I am still part of the untrusting relationship with the man who has created all my underlying anxieties, and my need to feel in control of things due to initial betrayal and persistent ongoing lies.

Very good advice, thanks for that.
At the same time it generates a big question!
How we can identify our values?
It is difficult to do it when we are sane and specially hard in moments of uncertainty and depression.
Could you give me some tips or readings to navigate the need of finding values?
Thanks very much

Bull’s Eye. “You are not your thoughts”. Intellectualizing and overthinking common with nerds, geeks, and dorks is a bad head space. It is not really interacting with others, on an emotional level, anyway.

Nick, what a rockstar article! This brings hope and understanding. It breed resilience and self worth.

Thank you 🙏🏼

This article was the difference in Believing in going down the train of having mental health issues or accepting life on life’s terms.

I respect this article a lot, but I’m 13 and need help understanding how to see things from others and seeing it in yourself. I know this isn’t something a ‘normal’ 13 year old should feel but I need the help. My Mom has BPD, Extreme Anxiety and Crippling Depression (or so I’ve been told). I am told that, “I’m a liar and I’m ‘smart’ and I just need to listen to everything they say and I’m wrong and I’m not supposed to have a opinion on that thing and that too, and your so smart and you just need to pay attention better and act like a teenager! Stop crying and be a big kid.” As you can tell I’m upset… I just want to know how to be better.

Salam. Hi. All I’m saying is life is what you make of it now matter what life throws at you just pick up yourself and get back up and get on with life the best way possible. May the Lord Allah Almighty Bless us all and help us all improve our Lifestyle and Love life.
Love conquers all. Amen
Take care of yourself and the one’s you love. Amen.
Protect yourself from COVID. Thank you. GK. Khan.

Thank you! This was very educational and eye-opening! I am going to make notes of your points and post them around my house!!

Wow! Each and Every word made sense! Thanks for this article, I will read this daily and imbibe as much as I can.

Wow: thank you for that article.Man it’s what i needed. I’m gonna read this everyday to help myself through this.THANKS again.

Thank you for sharing, totally made sense. Talking to a therapist is currently not an option for me and finding an article like this feels like a warm hug. I bookmark the page to read it again when I need it. Thank you!

Reading this article shows me that I can be emotional stable! And I’m thankful for it! More power to you sir! And now I know I can have a stable relationship too!

This is sooo useful. I have based my life around making sense of the world around me and taking responsibility for my actions (hardly earth shattering ideals but reasonably useful nonetheless). The meaning making part of it is so helpful for me.

Nick, after reading several of your articles, the following came to mind: “ Let us seek an understanding of Guilt that is not self-destructive but that admonishes with insight and guides with hope”.

Keep up your good work! Bapa

Sent from my iPad

Nick,I came to realized that am not sick,am just emotionally break down.so I don’t need drugs.
All I need is to work on my self.
This article is so educative and am already working on my self.

Thanks for this article. Seriously it helped me. This is exactly what I need to know. I always trying to find meaning in everything and it doesn’t end well. Now I know so I will try my best. 🙂

Thank you for sharing this article.
I am suffering from continuous emotional unstableness after my ONLY best friend left me without good reasons, the unstable emotions affected me for months, and I am very frustrated and feeling so helpless; it affected my school life heavily, I think it is time to move on, but I am not able to do it.
This article is beneficial to me, as it can help me at least become more emotionally stable and do the things that matter most. Furthermore, I hope to overcome the grief soon and move on completely.

Love it. I kept coming back reading certain sentences a few more times. “Just because you have a thought doesn’t make it true”, “A rational person can find peace by cultivating indifference to things outside of their control”, etc. Great work. I will start practice these advices and use them to improve my self esteem, my working status, my relationships with the husband and the rest of family…

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