Dear Human 💕,

You look extremely frustrated right now. I can see you want to smash that thing you’ve been trying to fix. 

Before you smash it, here’s what you need to know:

Strong emotions trigger a strong urge to react immediately. They won’t let you think. They want you to do something. Now! Unfortunately, if you give into that urge, how you react will often make it worse.

Will it help, if you smash the thing?

Nope. You’ll certainly need to get a new one. Without it your coffee machine doesn’t work. And without coffee, you don’t seem to work.

Instead of reacting immediately, stop yourself right there. Take a step back. Give yourself a chance to calm down. This way, you can look at the situation, when you can actually think clearly.

Then, consider what you feel and think. How can you respond so that you get to what you really need or want? What will be helpful?

Don’t smash the thing. Find another YouTube Video for different troubleshooting ideas.

I know it’s difficult to calm down, when any strong emotion hits you. What to do?

I distract myself by focusing on something else. Anything else. My two favorites:

• Racing up and down the hallway

• Staring at the squirrel

Think about things that you enjoy and make you feel good. Knowing you one of those could work:

• Blast some music

• Squeeze your pink cube

• Cuddle with your cat

• Play a board game

• Talk to another human

• Go on a walk or bike ride

• Take a hot shower

• Watch a show or a movie

Write those things down so you can pull up that list, when you need to distract yourself.

Let’s play some angry music!

Yours,
Cat 🐾

P.S. Distracting yourself doesn’t mean you’re avoiding the situation altogether. You‘re avoiding it for a little while, until you’re ready to deal with it.