Emotional Wellness
October is recognized as emotional wellness month. What does emotional wellness mean to you? According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) “emotional wellness is the ability to successfully handle life's stresses and adapt to change and difficult times.”
The NIH identifies 6 key areas to focus on to improve emotional wellness:
● Build Resilience
● Reduce Stress
● Get Quality Sleep
● Strengthen Social Connections
● Cope with Loss
● Be Mindful
What does each of these key areas mean? Let’s start with building resilience. The idea of building resilience is your ability to handle what life might throw at you daily. By creating positive, healthy habits, being open to others’ perspectives and learning to accept that things will not always go as planned you can build your resiliency muscles. Your ability to look at situations from a different perspective, and know that there are multiple ways to find solutions to problems are key factors in your ability to be resilient. When you read stories of people who have overcome insurmountable odds or pushed through when times were tough, that is a celebration of one’s resilience. The ability to build resilience allows you to be more able to adjust to challenging situations.
Reducing stress is something that is mentioned almost daily, if you ask someone how they are feeling after a busy work day or during the work day you will hear, “I’m stressed”. Everyone has stress in their lives; the issue becomes when stress gets to an unmanageable level and it takes over. The ability to reduce stress allows you to be more able to feel calm and centered to tackle everyday stressors. Ways to reduce stress include: taking a 10-minute walk outside, listening to a meditation, and destressing on your way home by listening to a favorite podcast. Incorporating small mini-breaks into your day or taking a few minutes to get some fresh air can make a big difference in your stress levels.
When looking at building resilience or reducing stress the next key area that one should focus on is getting quality sleep. Individuals should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night; lack of sleep is a major contributor to a multitude of health issues that negatively impact not only mental health but physical health as well. Lack of sleep or sleep issues are something that many individuals mention when seeking counseling, reports of lack of sleep, broken sleep, or overall, not enough hours all impact one’s ability to function throughout the day.
When thinking of emotional wellness, you can be focused on what you need to do for yourself, but one of the best things you can do is connect with others. Having strong social connections allows you to feel a sense of belonging which provides you with someone or a group of people to lean on when times get tough. Having positive and strong social connections are key to emotional well-being. Identifying social support through groups such as a church group, gym, or gaming club are just a few of the places where you can seek social connections. Online forums through social media accounts or apps like Meetup provide opportunities for you to connect with other like-minded individuals.
The ability to cope with loss allows you to have a positive sense of self. Eventually, everyone is going to experience some form of loss in their lives. Americans do not do well with discussing death and dying. The ability to have open and honest conversations about the inevitable and know how to deal with loss allows you and your family unit to be prepared. Loss can come in many forms, the death of a loved one, the death of a pet, the loss of a job, or the loss of function as one ages. Having adequate resources to cope with whatever form of loss you experience allows you to grieve and identify strengths to move forward over time.
Lastly, being mindful. You can spend your entire day between work and free time staring at a screen. Whether it be a computer, cell phone, or tablet. Take time to check out, be present with yourself, spend time journaling, and go for a walk without your phone or without listening to music. In a world of constant noise, the ability to block out distractions and simply be present has become very difficult. The ability to consciously step back and say this is my quiet time is an art that many would benefit from if mastered.
Emotional wellness will not look the same for everyone. The ability to take the time to explore what is or is not working in your life, allows you to make changes that can lead to big improvements in your emotional well-being.