Problem: Article: Studies show that repressing negative emotions can deplete your psychological resources, making it more difficult for you to handle stress and make good decisions. This means that numbing yourself from emotional pain might hurt your resilience or even your ability to remember events. Only numb yourself if it is truly necessary for you to get through your daily life.  An effective alternative to numbing yourself is to work through your emotional pain by reframing it and focusing on more positive emotions. For example, you might want to numb yourself to an embarrassing incident that happened to you at work. However, maybe you can try to see that the incident is not humiliating, but rather quite funny. This is commonly known as cognitive reappraisal and, while not the same as emotional numbness, can produce a similar desired effect.  Be aware that feelings of total or long-term numbness might be an indication of mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or clinical depression. If you feel constantly lost, numb, and hopeless, you should see your doctor or therapist as soon as possible. . The easiest way for you to numb your emotional response is to control your surroundings. Make sure that you are not triggering extreme emotional responses in the first place. If you know that certain people, places, and activities bring out the worst in you, try to stay away from them as much as possible. Sometimes you have to be around people you dislike or perform tasks you hate. If you cannot avoid the things that cause you emotional pain, find ways to take control over them. Do not view yourself as a helpless victim: find as much agency as you can in the situation. Simply reminding yourself that you always have a choice can help you get through emotional times relatively unscathed. For example:  If you get stressed out studying for tests the night before the exam, try studying for the exam two nights before instead. Then you can relax the night before the exam. If you hate going to parties because there are too many people, ask one or two close friends to attend it with you. Seek them out if you need to get away from the crowd and have a more private conversation. . When you feel your emotions getting in your way, stop what you are doing immediately and do something else instead. Try to do an activity that will require you to focus all of your mental and emotional attention on it. By distracting yourself, you will be able to process your emotions later, when you are more likely to be calm and reasonable. But for now, don't worry about processing your emotional state: simply change your mood by changing your activity. Some good activities include:  Playing a video game Watching a movie Engaging in your favorite hobby Going to a concert or comedy show Exercising Counting down from 100 in increments of 7 Focusing on finding a color, such as blue, in your surroundings Noticing how your feet feel on the ground . Technology can lead to more intense emotions: by remaining plugged in, you are exposing yourself to added work stress, life stress, and feelings of helplessness. You can make yourself calmer and happier instantly by quitting social media sites. Take control over your emotional life by limiting the amount of time you spend on the internet. In order to limit your internet use, you can:  Check email at work only--never at home Turn your phone off in the evenings Turn off social media notifications Take down your social media profiles Take a break from the internet during weekends According to the Facial Feedback Hypothesis, you can change your emotional state simply by changing your facial expression. In other words: by pretending to feel a certain way, you can actually begin feeling that way for real. If you want to be emotionally numb, act emotionally numb. This might be difficult during times of stress, but with some practice it will soon become natural. Stay neutral by:  Maintaining a cool, deadpan expression Keeping your lips neutral, in neither a smile nor a frown Speaking in low tones at a low volume Remaining terse by keeping your sentences brief and to the point Maintaining eye contact with a calm, blank stare
Summary: Recognize that numbing yourself comes at a cost. Avoid people, settings, and events you dislike Take control over situations you dislike. Distract yourself Give yourself technology breaks Act neutral, even if you do not feel that way.

Problem: Article: You should never try to reignite your pilot if there is gas leaking from your water heater, as this is extremely dangerous to both you and your home. Before attempting to relight the pilot, do a simple smell test to check for leakage.  Stand next to your water heater and see if you detect any unusual smells. Then kneel down and sniff near any valves on the front and side of the tank. Natural gas is odorless by nature, but gas companies add a substance called mercaptan to it to make it detectable to humans. Leaking gas smells like sulfur or rotten eggs.  If you smell gas in either of these places (even a faint smell), do not attempt to relight the pilot. Leave the area of the water heater and call your gas company immediately; they will tell you how to proceed. Also listen for a hissing sound near the water heater, as this is a sign of a gas leak. Specific instruction of details for your individual model may be listed here, and they may help guide you in the process of relighting the pilot for your specific water heater.
Summary:
Make sure there is no leaking gas. Check inside the door panel of your water heater for instructions.