Emotional Eating

I'm pretty sure I've blogged about this before, but I'm going to do it again anyway. This Saturday was a bad day. No, I didn't fall off the wagon again, and as a matter of fact, I've stuck faithfully to my eating plan for a full week and have lost 9.8lbs! My problem was this overwhelming desire to curl up in the fetal position in a dark room where there was absolute silence. Since this is impractical when you have 4 children, let alone when you're sitting on the side of a road watching a parade, I was unable to get the silence I was craving. Things did not improve when we returned home. Did I mention I have 4 kids? Yeah, silence is not something that was going to happen anytime soon not to mention things like grocery shopping needed to be done. Without having the down time I wanted, I started getting really irritable. Like, I will literally chew your head off and feel so much better kind of irritable. I struggled to say anything nice, heck I struggled not to yell at everyone for every little thing, and I think I failed. Worst of all was the feeling of confusion...why was I so angry? The plan was working, I'd followed it without fail, I'd had a good family day...why was I so on edge? It wasn't until I laid down in bed that night that the thought hit me...I was dealing with my emotions without food. I've never mastered the art of dealing with my emotions without food. Food is how I deal with all my emotions. Happy times, we go out to celebrate. I'm upset, scared, hurt, I reach for the comfort food. I honestly don't know any other way to deal with any emotion. But after this weekend, it's a new goal of mine. I can't be that grumpy anytime I experience an emotion without being able to eat to drown it out. Lay on the suggestions...what are some of the things you do to deal with your emotions in a positive, healthy way?