From what I have seen and experienced, uncomfortable emotions can be used as motivation to go in the direction we wish, as a means to meet some of our needs. It seems like there is an avoidance approach, proactively seeking ways of attaining the opposite emotion. There also exists the delving approach, going deeper or sitting with an uncomfortable emotion and using the discomfort as a driving force for change.
Anger... Fear... Loneliness... Sadness... These can inspire one to act in accordance with one's own needs or values. Anger can drive one to help others, pushing one to act when one normally wouldn't. Anger can help drive one to help oneself, often by taking a kind of oppositional rebelling mindset similar to "I will show them." Fear, loneliness, and sadness can drive one to seek external means of decreasing these things, trying to connect to what will help alleviate these things. If one sits with these uncomfortable emotions, it might inspire compassion and more compassionate behavior in oneself in relationship to others.
Uncomfortable emotions when used to help connect to others can help drive change in a manner that helps meet the needs of many, not just of oneself. Or it could have the opposite impact, making one fall into the mindset of feeling isolated and disconnected, thus less inclined to meet the needs of others as one feels starved. Different approaches and mindsets to our discomfort can have many varied results... And it seems each person has a tendency with one approach or mindset over another as a means of coping, as well as what seems to work best for the individual.
