Managing Emotions

By Angelina Fan (Grade 6)

Recently, I have learned a lot about emotions. Sometimes, they may blind you with worries that aren’t really necessary at all or cause you to misunderstand other’s intentions or even make you forget that there are always good solutions. 

One of the times when my emotions exploded was during a recent swimming practice. My coach (Coach Mei) called me out of the pool unexpected along with a few other swimmers. After I got out of the water, I started to wonder what did I do wrong? and soon my mind was heading to the worst scenarios. I nearly turned purple with worry when she called my parents into the pool because I had never seen her do it, except for during the last 20 minutes of a practice when two parents had to watch at the shallow end, to see if we got disqualified or not. It turned out that we all had 500 yard freestyle (“500 free”) as one of our events. However, since none of us had swam 500 free at a meet before, that meant none of us had a record. So, we needed to make a record by swimming 500 free while my parents time us. From that experience, I learned that I shouldn’t imagine the worst when something unexpected happens.

My second experience was back when I was nine, my parents surprised me with two turtles one evening. I was kind of excited that they got me a pet but mostly disappointed that they got me turtles instead of a dog. I had always wanted a dog since first grade but my parents always poured cold water on that wish. So, we often argued about the subject. I would always ask, “Why can’t we get a pet? What harm can a pet do?” My parents would always reply, “Having a pet in the house would be a lot of responsibility. Why don’t you understand?” Then, the argument would end with me stomping up to my room. Surprisingly, I never understood why we couldn’t get a dog until I got the turtles. After the second month of getting the turtles, I realized getting any pet would be adding extra weight to your shoulders. Sometimes I would even forget to feed the turtles and regret it. At that point, I knew why my parents never wanted pets and that you may not understand others' rationale until you have the experience yourself.

My final example was when I was riding my dirt bike with my sister and my dad recently. After I had circled a mini construction site five times, I heard this weird rhythmic tapping sound coming from the back tire of the bike. I decided to leave the site to check the back tire. After I parked the dirt bike in the driveway, I saw a nail pierced in the side of the rim. I called my dad for help. As he was figuring out what to do, I started to worry. If my dad pulled the nail out of the tire, there would be a high chance of the tire losing air. There was also a chance that the hole couldn’t be fixed. I felt my legs turning into wobbly jelly when he pulled the nail out. In the end, my dad was somehow able to pull the nail out of the tire without the tire losing any air at all. I learned that there is a solution to every problem and solutions come easier when you have help.

Something I learned from these experiences is to control your emotions so your imagination doesn’t take you to places you don’t want to be.