There’s a popular misconception that the way to improve your emotional health is to avoid all stress. This misconception comes from the fact that emotional wellness refers to how you deal with stress.
Because most of us are more comfortable talking about physical health than emotional health, let’s use a little analogy. Suppose that stress is a pathogen – it’s everywhere, and it can make you sick. Suppose that emotional wellness is your immune system – it protects your body from stress so that you can live a healthy life.
Just like you don’t improve your immune system by creating a world free of germs, you can’t improve your emotional wellness by trying to eliminate all stress. Just like we can make our lives safer by cleaning our homes and limiting our exposure to people who are sick, we can safeguard our emotional wellness by reducing unnecessary stress in our lives and trying to avoid people who make our lives more stressful, but that doesn’t strengthen your emotional health. To strengthen your immune system, you need to combat pathogens, and to strengthen your emotional health you need to confront stressful situations.
QUESTIONS TO REFLECT ON:
Thinking
- Are you aware of how important emotional wellness is?
- Are you finding the good within yourself that help with emotional wellness?
- Are you searching and continuously growing yourself?
Talk – New Language
- Do you use positive self talk?
- Do you write down or tell yourself the bright and amazing future you will get?
Behaviour
- Do you practice Self care?
- Are you choosing to see the positive and good things about yourself that help with emotional wellness?
- Are you actively choosing things in life that are good for you and that cultivate emotional health?
Relationships & Contribution
- Are you striving to have a good relationship with yourself and others?
- Are you choosing good relationships that help you with your emotions?
- Are you continuously growing the love for yourself and choosing to love people who love you the way you should be?
