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Mom Minute Monday: How to handle being on an emotional roller coaster

2021 has already thrown a lot at us. We got expert advice on how to better handle the emotional roller coaster ride.

CLEVELAND — We all looked to the beginning of 2021 as a fresh start. But, let's face it -- 2021 has already thrown a lot at us.

This Mom Minute Monday, 3News’ Hollie Strano talked to clinical health psychologist Dr. Lori Stevic-Rust, about what we can do, when we feel like we’re on an emotional roller coaster.

“I think that there was a lot of hope going into a new year, with sort of just a feeling of relief," Hollie says. “We're still feeling very uncertain about a lot of things… what do we do with this emotional distress?”

“We can think about it as an emotional roller coaster with positive, fun things to look forward to in our sporting world, getting children back to school and the normalcy that comes with that. ... But then we've watched what happened to our Capitol and what's happening in our political arena and it's easy to go from, ‘Oh gosh, I was feeling hopeful and optimistic and now I feel just gutted again today.’”

Dr. Stevic-Rust says while at times it may feel inappropriate to be joyful, it’s important to have things that you look forward and acknowledge them.

“Not thinking of it as, ‘how could I be happy and watching sports when horrible things are happening over here?’ It's dealing with that internal sense of, because today I need to turn this off, or today I need to really engage with the stories in the news. That balance of riding the roller coaster is important that we acknowledge that to ourselves. Because that really is the life that we're living right now.

Dr. Stevic-Rust also says it's very important to remember the basics: Getting good sleep, eating healthy food, doing some type of physical movement and staying connected to people, even if you can't see them in person.

For more advice from Dr. Stevic-Rust, you can check out her site here.

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