Manage my emotions? I can't even manage my life right now!

So, I think I'm making steps in the right direction. Yesterday, I recognized how embarrassed situations make me feel, and really believe that saying "I feel embarrassed" is possible now. Rather than ducking my head and running away when other people embarrass themselves, I think now I can face the situation head on and at least recognize when I am in a situation that is going to cause me embarrassment. That being said, I still feel like I have a long way to go before I can be considered completely emotional literate..it's probably even a lifetime process, but for now, ON TO STEP 2...

Step 2: Managing our emotions

According to familylinks.org if you are able to manage your own emotions, you are able to build on your own awareness of them. Clearly, the next step in the process. But let's be real, how do I learn to manage my own emotions when I am struggling to manage my life right now??

Apparently "every feeling has it's value and it's importance." I guess that means that every time I'm angry "for no reason" there really is a reason behind it. Hm...I suppose that explains a lot. I find myself getting annoyed at a certain situation, blowing it off and then blaming something completely irrelevant on my boyfriend. Poor guy, he goes through too much. He'll ask me what's wrong, I'll say nothing and just grow more and more annoyed at a situation. Little does he know that 99.9% of the time my annoyance has nothing to do with him. Most likely, it has to do with a lack of sleep or the stupid kid that cut me in line while at Tasty Twist the other night...GOD, that gets under my skin.

I suppose to really manage my emotions, I must recognize when I am feeling a certain way and be sure to either deal with it or not. I can't keep holding on to how mad I am if I'm not going to anything to fix it. That's just not fair--to me or to my poor boyfriend. I'll start making the effort to man up and take my emotions like a (wo)man. However, all that being said, I have to be sure not to brush everything off too much. Every emotion has it's purpose. It's just up to me to decide what that is and who's going to deal with the repercussions of it.

So, for the rest of the day, when someone cuts me off on the street, I'll let them know. (Wish me luck). Or when a friend makes me really happy, I'll make sure they know. Or when someone does something that should be really embarrassed about, I'll tell them. (Even if it's silently to myself or an understanding friend). But my goal will be to not take any annoyances or angers I have at some situation out on other people...I think my boyfriend will appreciate that.