Today, people shell out a whopping $225 billion a year for psychotherapy. With a typical therapy session running anywhere from $100-$200 per hour and 21.6% of adults in America receiving mental health treatment, there’s a definite need for a little emotional freedom. Now, mental health experts are revealing that there’s one simple change you can make to take back your emotional freedom. As simple as it might sound, the way you do that is to never take what anybody else says or does personally. If you’re offended, sad, or depressed and you say things like, “He makes me…….She makes me…..,” you’re not in charge of your emotions. Instead, you’re a victim of what other people do and say. Let’s say a friend invites you over for dinner and then asks you to bring most of the food. You can either choose to be offended and judge your friend for being rude, or you can manage your thoughts about the situation and set a boundary to take care of yourself. To do that, you can say something like, “I’m not interested in doing that,” or “I’m not going to bring everything.” That allows you to still have love for your friend and not be offended, while not giving in to a ridiculous request. The important thing is not to take everything personally, but to be kind in your responses and simply state what you need or what you’re not willing to do. The key is to separate your feelings from the facts.
