If You're Over 50 And Still Do These 8 Things, People Respect You For All The Right Reasons
mapodile | Canva If you were to fill a bucket with water and keep the tap on, the water would spill out over the edge. Then add on a tight lid, and the water would be suppressed, causing the bucket to build pressure and eventually burst. This is what happens to your mind during a nervous breakdown.
Life can be fast-paced with people wanting results and actions quickly. Compared to your ancestors, you're faced with a huge turnover of information daily. When something throws you into disarray, you can’t just throw a tantrum or run away. Instead, you swallow your words, push your feelings down, and it’s business as usual.
During stress, your body will frantically try to keep you safe because it has an instinct to save you from harm. When in danger, your body responds the same way it did millions of years ago. And just like the bucket of water, all those emotions must go somewhere. So, how can you shift from a breakdown to a breakthrough? Everyone has feelings accompanied by old emotional echoes that pop up inconveniently.
Do you expertly push your emotions down to be seen and respected as being in control of yourself? As emotion is suppressed, pressure builds, and the body pumps out a concoction of stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline.
If you're overburdened or stressed, this constant pump will rarely rebalance itself. This is incredibly threatening to the immune system and causes you to feel unwell emotionally and physically. When you're lost for a solution or feel trapped, the breakdown breaks out. It's important to get on top of things before that happens, especially as you age into your fifties and beyond.
If you're over 50 and still do these eight things, people respect you for all the right reasons:
1. You don't hide how you feel
Speaking your feelings will help you to connect to yourself and come up with solutions. Having someone you trust to bounce ideas and sensations off of is important. Expressing your thoughts and feelings about stressors is a coping strategy that predicts better mental and physical health. Research shows that emotional expression helps people navigate social interactions more successfully and enhances their sense of connection with others.
2. You don't hang onto old grudges
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Make time for expressing yourself and releasing grudges that have built up. This could be through journaling or other creative methods. When people actively forgive, their cortisol levels drop significantly, and they experience better health, improved sleep, and a reduced risk of chronic illness. A study at Luther College revealed that forgiveness was directly associated with lower mortality rates.
3. You refuse to be a victim of your circumstances
Decide how you can fully take control of a situation, so you're more empowered. Stepping out of your comfort zone could lead you to a better situation. People with an internal locus of control believe their actions have a meaningful impact on the events and outcomes in their lives. Research shows that people who possess internal control have better mental health and overall ability to adjust to changing circumstances.
4. You don't argue just to win
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Avoid power struggles and the need to be right in certain situations. This only perpetuates conflict and makes you feel worse. Conflict can become an unhealthy habit where one or both partners consistently feel they have lost, which only perpetuates more conflict and makes you feel worse. The strongest predictor of a marriage that stayed together and was happy was the degree of positive emotions expressed during conflict situations.
5. You learn from other people's experiences
Make the most of the people around you. Ask for feedback, so you can learn and grow. Feedback is one of the most powerful influences on learning and achievement, with research showing it can almost double the rate of learning compared to standard growth. People with a strategic mindset are more likely to learn from others' feedback and improve themselves by accepting and integrating constructive criticism more readily.
6. You take time to appreciate how far you've come
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Celebrate all the great things you have achieved in life so far. If you need a reminder, grab some paper and write them all out. Gratitude is the appreciation of what is valuable and meaningful to you, and research studies indicate that gratitude is associated with an enhanced sense of personal well-being. People who practiced gratitude had greater satisfaction with life, better mental health, and fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression.
7. You don't fixate on the negative
Imagine the experiences when you felt good. Bring that same feeling into the present by recalling times when you were elated! These memories will remind you that things are not as bad as they seem — and that you still have many more things to be happy about.
Recalling happy memories elicits positive feelings and enhances well-being when you're coping with stress. Research shows that recalling positive memories resulted in lower stress hormones and reduced negative feelings, and people with greater resiliency showed better moods despite being stressed out.
8. You play to your strengths
Tap into the positive resources you already have within. You are stronger and more resilient than you realize! And thus far, have gotten yourself through absolutely everything life has thrown your way.
Resilience is your ability to withstand, adapt, and recover from adversity and stress. Studies show that more resilient people tend to experience higher levels of well-being and are better able to adapt to challenges and maintain a positive outlook.
When you're in a more resourceful state, you can rationalize and handle a situation objectively and take the appropriate action, which will have a positive impact all around. Don't let your emotional state drive you to a breakdown. Turn it into a breakthrough by remembering that you can do this, and you've got plenty more in life to look forward to.
Caroline Rushforth is a certified NLP coach and life coach with over 10 years of experience helping women who are overwhelmed with worry, negative thoughts, and low self-esteem.
