I subscribe to the philosophy that distraction is everything. As much as I possibly can, I tend to stay out of my own head. But what that's taught me is that the more I stay out of my own head, the less I understand what's going on in my heart. So my new motto? Get in my head.
In order to get in my heart, I've got to get in my head. Instead of avoiding what's going on and keeping everything together, I've got to commit myself to spending time with myself.
For as long as I can remember, I've been type A - an athlete. That means keeping everything together and putting up a strong front has been all I've known. I have always been able to easily compartmentalize issues and continue on with a normal life. Most people believe my life has just been idyllic, without hard times. And while I don't care much for how others see me, I do care that I'm able to so easily set aside horrible emotions and issues and pretend they aren't there. I have learned this doesn't create the healthiest happiest me and it's time to stop.
So how do you get in your head and what's the point? You get in your head by forcing yourself to connect with what's happening in your mind and how that makes you feel in your heart. The point is so to become emotionally intelligent and in return, live your best life.
But how do you specifically get in your own head? You stop avoiding it. You do things that force you to live in that space. Keep a journal. Talk to your friends/family. Listen to music. Workout. Do whatever activity it is that connects you to your headspace. And record how that makes you feel.
For example: My aunt recently passed away. It happened during a time when I was my busiest at work, having some personal life struggles, and was just plain exhausted. So I ignored how her passing made me feel. I kept it together and pushed that all aside. Now that I'm able to slow down a bit - I've spent time listening to how her passing makes me feel. And it's a lot of things. I had been suppressing sadness, fear, anger, love - so many things. Now that I'm recognizing these emotions, I'm dealing with them in a healthy way. Which will in turn better equip me to manage these feelings in the future.
Getting in your head is about making time to face your thoughts and how they make you feel. For me, that's a good workout, writing down words in a planner that describe how I'm feeling and then figuring out how you can utilize everything to be more successful each day. The more emotionally intelligent you can be, the more successful your relationships with yourself, family, friends - even partners will be. Whenever I'm in a bad place and ignoring what's happening in my head, I tend to be pretty damn awful to myself and even screw up relationships with others. And that's never what I want.
The world is super big, super scary, and it moves at you pretty fast. When you take time to get in your head and understand what's happening in YOUR world, it becomes a lot less scary and a lot more exciting.