Welcome back to Savvy Psychologist. I'm your host Dr. Jade Wu.

Every week I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic ear, and zero judgment.

Why won't my brain just let me relax?

Why do I have such a short fuse? Why do I feel so sad? I wish I could just

pull myself up by the emotional bootstraps and get happy. These are some of the most

common questions my therapy clients ask me. And they're all thoughts I've had about my own emotions.

What we're really saying is

negative emotions are bad. I want to get rid of them.

And no wonder, fear twists our stomachs, anger makes us feel out of control, and sadness is just

such a heavy blanket. Sometimes these emotions can feel so powerful that we feel like victims of their

relentless grasp. So why do we have them? Why do our brains play such cruel tricks on us?

And how can we avoid having negative emotions?

Let's start by questioning our assumptions for a moment.

Are negative emotions all bad? Should we really try to get rid of them?

After all, we figure that thumbs are useful because we evolved to have them over millions of years,

and that tails are not because we evolved to lose them over time.

So, if negative emotions have stuck around this long,

shouldn't there be some good reason to have them? This week we will bust some

myths about anger, deconstruct fear, and learn to appreciate sadness.

I'll also give you one golden rule on how to handle these emotions in a healthy and productive way.

Let's start with emotion number one, fear.

Your stomach clenches, your muscles tense, your heart starts to pound. Your whole body is on

...