​​​​How To Handle Negative Emotions With Confidence

For your own happiness, well-being, and peace of mind, and also to improve your life and get rid of depression for good faster and easier, it’s important that you:

  • Stop treating ‘negative’ emotions like fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, sadness, unhappiness, regret, and so on, as if they are threats to you and your well-being
  • Start treating these types of ‘bad’ feelings as signals that alert you to opportunities for improvement, much like a ringing fire alarm does

Here’s why it’s important to do this.


Why ‘bad’ feelings are alerts, not threats

There are 3 main reasons why it’s in your best interest to treat ‘bad’ feelings as signals that alert you to opportunities for improvement in your life, rather than treating them as threats:


  1. When you treat ‘negative’ emotions as threats or enemies that can harm you, you naturally become afraid of feeling bad, and this has a negative impact on your life  

Indeed, when you see ‘bad’ feelings as threats or enemies that can harm you:

  • You are naturally afraid of ‘bad’ feelings, and you feel like you have to fight them to protect yourself
  • This is an extremely stressful mindset, which naturally makes you feel bad, in and of itself (the very thing you’re afraid of!)
  • It also naturally leaves you feeling perpetually exhausted from ‘battling’ these types of emotions
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  • Furthermore, it leads to a life that is naturally less enjoyable and worthwhile, since you experience the perpetual fear of feeling bad (even when you feel ‘good’, there’s always the fear that you could feel ‘bad’ at any moment)
  • Depending on how afraid you are of feeling bad, you can begin living a life that is governed by this fear, where you begin avoiding people and situations that might lead to ‘negative’ emotions that you find dangerous and threatening
  • In such a way, you naturally experience a much more limited life, with far less success, achievement, enjoyment, and happiness overall

Due to all of these effects, perceiving ‘negative’ emotions as threats is an extremely destructive form of negative thinking that you’re much better off without in every way.


  1. When you treat ‘negative’ emotions as signals that alert you to opportunities for improvement in your life, you handle bad feelings more calmly and confidently, and focus on how you can improve your life: so this has a very positive impact  

Think of a fire alarm going off in your house. You might not enjoy the unpleasant sound it makes, but you can be thankful that it alerts you to a fire to put out.

Similarly, you can think of ‘negative’ emotions as perhaps being unpleasant to experience, but helpful in the sense that they alert you to opportunities for improvement.

When you adopt this very constructive, useful, and beneficial view:

  • You are naturally less afraid (or not afraid at all!) of ‘bad’ feelings, any more than you would be afraid of a fire alarm, especially since you appreciate that you can gain and benefit from them in some way
  • This is a much more peaceful, confident mindset, which naturally makes you feel better, in and of itself (the very thing you probably already want!)
  • It also naturally leaves you feeling more calm and rested, since you’re free of trying to ‘battle’ any ‘negative’ emotions, and are instead focused how you can benefit from these types of alerts, by identifying opportunities for improvement
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  • Furthermore, it leads to a life that is naturally more enjoyable and worthwhile, since not only are you less afraid of feeling bad (or not afraid at all), but you’re also naturally more energized and motivated to make improvements in your life
  • Even better, by improving your life, you naturally stop feeling bad, much like a fire alarm naturally stops ringing once you put out the fire; for example, once you eliminate and replace a negative thought that makes you feel bad, you stop feeling bad
  • In such a way, you naturally experience a richer life, with far more success, achievement, enjoyment, and happiness overall, especially since you find a way to benefit from negative emotions, rather than simply ‘suffer’ from them or fight them

  1. Even if they’re unpleasant, it makes sense to see ‘bad’ feelings as alerts there to help, not harm: indeed, ‘negative’ emotions are like an unpleasant fire alarm that rings to help you, not harm you  

It makes sense every way you look at it to treat ‘negative’ emotions as alerts rather than threats, especially when you consider:

  • ‘Bad’ feelings are ultimately created in the mind, via various ways of negative thinking
  • Therefore, among other things, ‘bad’ feelings naturally alert you that you are currently thinking in a negative, destructive way that makes you feel bad, and that you could improve your life and feel better immediately by improving your thinking
  • For example, let’s say you feel bad after you lose your job: among other things, this bad feeling alerts you that you can improve the way you think about your job loss (it might also alert you that you could improve your situation by finding a new job)
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  • By focusing on finding a new job, and improving the way you think about your job loss, you naturally feel better, and you stop feeling bad about your job loss
  • This improvement in how you feel is similar to how a fire alarm naturally stops ringing when you put out a fire
  • So, when you consider how much it benefits you to treat ‘negative’ emotions as alerts, not threats, and how this is a completely logical, valid, acceptable view, it makes complete sense in every way to accept this constructive view of ‘bad’ feelings


Click on any reason for more information.

Then, eliminate and replace any negative thoughts that make you afraid of feeling bad.


Next: How To Get Rid Of Bad Feelings Intelligently →


You are here:

Section 7 Lessons:

  1. How to handle negative emotions with confidence
  2. How to get rid of bad feelings intelligently
  3. How to stop feeling sorry for yourself
  4. How to get rid of stress and depression
  5. How to be optimistic & stop being pessimistic
  6. How to get rid of anxiety and depression fast
  7. How to get rid of guilt

Next Section In The Depression-Free Course:

Section 8


About the author

Hi, I'm Dave Fonvielle, the founder of Always Greater. On this website I teach you step by step how to be happier and more successful achieving your goals, whether it's completing a small personal to do task, like doing the dishes, or a large business goal, like launching a new product. Get my free 3 Tiny Habits for Being Happier & More Successful training for all of this right here.