Dealing With Emotions About Problems You Can't Change

1. Acknowledge that there is nothing you can do to fix the situation.
2. Recognize that worrying about the situation will not improve anything.
3. Remember that not worrying about the situation doesn't make you a bad person. You can be a better person by directing your energy into something productive rather than worrying about something you can't fix.
4. Distract yourself from the problem by engaging in activities that require your attention:
   • Watch television
   • Go to a movie
   • Read a book
   • Work / play on thecomputer
   • Work on a project
   • Talk to somebody
   • Go shopping
   • Go on a trip
   • Visit an amusement park
   • Visit a museum
   • Sit in an outdoor cafe and people watch
   • Write stories

Expressing Valid Negative Emotions

Sometimes your negative emotions are valid, not based on bad emotional habits. Such emotions may include things like grief and anger about violent crimes. It is important that you express these emotions in a healthy way:

• Cry
• Talk to a friend
• Talk aloud to yourself
• Journal
• Do something that requires lots of powerful energy (like tearing down the old shed in your back yard, ripping out bushes you never planned on keeping anyhow with your bare hands, practicing martial arts, playing racquetball, etc.)