Mental health is an ongoing issue in society. Mental disorders can be difficult to diagnose due to the wide range of symptoms that can mirror each other. There are so many forms of mental illness that are difficult to detect because they aren’t always visible. Sometimes there may be hormonal imbalances or specific symptoms felt however it isn’t like a broken arm where you can physically see where the issue is. Emotional wellness is the ability to recognize emotions (positive and negative) to navigate through them. It’s the ability to recognize the positive and use that when the negative appears.

Emotional wellness is one of the most important dimensions in my opinion because it impacts every other aspect of your life. Have you ever felt so depressed that getting out of bed just wasn’t happening? This means you don’t want to exercise (physical), your brain can’t handle challenges (intellectual) you likely have little hope (spiritual), you aren’t getting any natural light (environmental), finances don’t matter (financial), you call out of work (occupational), and you couldn’t care less about talking to your friends (social). Emotional wellness is so important in everyday life. Situations will always come up that will prevent you from feeling your best. When you have a strong grasp on emotional wellness, you can better navigate those emotions and feelings to keep pushing along.

Understanding Emotions

The first part of emotional wellness is the ability to understand what you’re feeling and why. There’s no way to push past feelings and emotions without dissecting them. Sure, you may feel depressed one day and then wake up perfectly okay the next, but there’s always more to it. It’s important to understand the difference between emotions and feelings so you can better navigate them. Emotions occur inside your body. This is related to neurotransmitters and hormones. Feelings are more of the reactions to emotions. They are conscious experiences. Feelings are more present if something externally occurs and you feel any sort of emotion towards it. It helps to look at why you feel the way you do. Is it an external trigger or hormonal issues internally? You can usually tell based on the length of time you feel this way and/or if you are experiencing/recovering from any trauma.

There are 5 basic emotions that humans feel. Knowing and understanding them will also help you decide your likes, dislikes, and reasoning why you feel that way. These emotions are joy, fear, anger, disgust, and sadness. These 5 emotions are our most instinct reactions to our emotions. Of course, other things can be felt but whatever you feel is generally tied to one of these emotions. Recognizing each emotion that you feel will help you determine what you enjoy, triggers you, scares you, etc. When you can recognize these, you can shape your life around things that spark joy in your life. You can also better cope with the things that bring you sadness.

Coping with Emotions

Being able to analyze the difference between problem-based coping and emotion-based coping. Problem-based is when a situation needs to be removed or changed. For example, this could be leaving an unhealthy relationship. It’s when there is a problem that is inflicting negative emotions. Emotion-based coping is when something cannot be changed and there is a need for coping strategies to handle the emotions/pain. An example of this would be the death of a loved one. Learning the difference between to two will help determine which actions to take.

If it’s something problem-based, it’s good to talk about it and work out solutions. If something is emotion-based, it may be helpful to see a doctor and determine what skills you can learn to manage what you feel. It may be altering your lifestyle, getting on medication, or finding better means of coping. When you don’t learn to cope with emotions, it’s easy to fall into unhealthy habits. It is common to abuse substances, take it out of other people, self-harm, and shut-down. Coping with emotions isn’t hiding them or pushing them away, it’s dealing with them. This is where you can find ways to release what you feel.

Resilience

Emotional resilience is similar to emotional coping but it’s generally the way that the reactions come out. Resilience is finding emotional strength and stability. This is so important to emotional wellness because it will determine how you allow yourself to feel. Situations are allowed to hurt you. But, how badly do you allow it to impact your life? Self-esteem plays a huge role in emotional resilience. What you feel is always valid. There is a reason you feel that way but being confident and understanding it is important in this process.

It’s important to not confuse resilience with not caring. Emotional resilience is learning how to alter your reactions to triggers. Generally, after traumatic events, there are things that negatively impact us. With resilience, you are able to identify what actually hurts you and what’s triggering from past occurrences. For example, think about if you grew up with an addicted parent. You’re now older and your partner likes to have a beer at night. This bothers you because you relate it to your past. Emotional resistance would be accepting that your partner has one drink. You can recognize that one isn’t going to hurt either of you. This situation would be different if your partner got drunk every night. At this point, emotional resilience would be putting your foot down and leaving the relationship. You’re able to recognize why you’re harmed and leave a situation that’s unhealthy.

Vulnerability and Confidence

Vulnerability is one of my favorite topics to talk about. There is a common misconception that vulnerability is a weakness. Let’s break that stigma. Vulnerability is strength and courage. It builds a connection to self and others. Allowing vulnerability into your life will help you see the world from different perspectives. Every time you allow yourself to learn, you are being vulnerable. It’s the concept of showing up the way that you are. Vulnerability and confidence are tied to each other for a reason. If you aren’t showing up as you are then you aren’t being vulnerable. There are underlying reasons why you feel like you can’t show up as yourself and this is directly tied to confidence.

Vulnerability is directly tied to emotional wellness. You have to be able to show up as yourself to feel confident. Each time you show up as you, there’s a chance for not being like. That’s what it means to be vulnerable; putting yourself out there regardless of the risk of pain. It’s scary but it’s necessary to grow and feel well. Each you show up pretending to be someone else, you’re reminding yourself that you aren’t good enough. This wears of confidence and self-esteem. Lack of confidence is one of the largest contributors to poor emotional wellness. This leads to self-harm, depression, anxiety, addiction, and more.