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Emotional Health and Wellness

 

Emotional wellness is a topic that is commonly misunderstood. Just like your physical and mental health, emotional health is crucial to your overall well being.  So what exactly is emotional health and wellness?   

 

Being emotionally healthy involves knowing how to cope with the stress and hassles that come from everyday life. It means having the tools to recognize and know how to deal with distressing situations. Identifying and reaching out to licensed professionals when problems are too much to handle is also a sign of good emotional health. Feeling sad or down is a common emotion that most people feel at various times in their lives. However, how you deal or cope with sadness and accompanying distress is often determined by your emotional wellbeing and overall mental health. 

 

If responses to stressors include irritation, agitation, withdrawal, changes in other areas of living (work, relationships, etc.) this may be a sign of distress and need for additional support and help to get through these difficulties. 

 

Activities That Promote Emotional Wellness

 

There are two particular mindsets or lifestyle changes that can improve and help you cope with feelings that are difficult to understand or endure. These are changes that can result in every day seeming more meaningful and encourage you to deal with emotions in a positive light. 

 

  • Separate Yourself: Many situations are beyond our control and are a product of other people’s choices and emotional states. Separate yourself physically, mentally and emotionally from the situation. Often times it feels as though we are “stuck”  in certain situations and/or emotions, when in reality, we have the ability to “unstick” ourselves.

 

  • Developing Perspective: Perception is reality. Changing the way we think about ourselves and others can change our perception of the situation or issue. While difficult to do, it is possible and within our control to modify our thinking, our beliefs, and our behaviors. Often times this is done with a licensed professional to guide and support us on this track. For more information on this concept see Victor Frankyl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”. In brief summary, Dr. Frankl was an Austrian Psychiatrist who was in the concentration camps during WWII and observed those prisoners who maintained a positive perspective and found deeper meaning in difficulty and suffering were more likely than those who did not survive through inhumane situations.

 

 

Seeking Out Professional Counseling

 

Seeking out professional help can result in better overall functioning at home, at work and in your relationships. There can often also be resolution and significant improvement in illness related symptoms, especially those that might be related to stress, inflammation, and altered immune functioning. As you learn effective self-management and coping skills, guided by a licensed mental health professional, you will learn to navigate current and future challenges effectively.  

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