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Why it’s Easier to Feel Bad than Good
Feeling good is about more than just feeling good. And you have more control over how you feel in the moment than you may think!
4 min readNov 14, 2018
The Physiological Effects of Emotions
All negative emotions are a level of the emergency fight-flight-freeze state.
During this emergency state (in other words, whenever you’re feeling any kind of negative emotion), stress chemicals are pumped into your body. The effects of these chemicals are what cause those negative feelings.
In addition to causing you to feel “bad” these stress chemicals also cause blood to drain from the prefrontal cortex of your brain (where you do your cognitive thinking) — which means that while you are feeling bad you are literally unable to think straight! That part of your brain is offline. This affects your judgement, your perception, and your ability to:
- think strategically
- problem-solve
- notice opportunities
- process information
- communicate effectively
- and so much more
So, why is it easier to feel bad than it is to feel good?
