Humans are emotional creatures and boy do we have a lot of emotions to deal with! Sometimes it feels as if our emotional health is being tested at every turn. But, there’s only so much stress a person can take before breaking. So, what exactly is emotion wellbeing?
When emotions run out of control, unfortunately it will also affect our physical health. So it’s best to keep our emotions in check, especially if we plan on living our best, happiest versions of ourselves.
What is Emotional Wellbeing?
When referring to your emotional wellbeing, keep in mind this is a general assessment of how you are feeling overall, not minute-to-minute. In any given day, or hour for some people, there could be a multitude of emotional experiences.
Emotional health is best described as how you feel, emotionally overall, or most of the time.
Your emotional wellbeing is how you are doing emotionally and how it relates to your happiness.
It’s up to you to decide your state of emotional health and if your emotional wellbeing needs some adjusting.
No one else can decide this for you, and furthermore, no one else can really fix this for you.
Your emotional state is entirely your responsibility.
Considering how important it is to live a happy, balanced life, emotional wellbeing shouldn’t just be placed on the backburner waiting to become a priority.
Deciphering Your Emotional Wellbeing
If you were to write down five emotions you felt best described you on a daily basis, would they be considered mostly positive or mostly negative?
Here is a list to help you get started:
Positive Emotions | Negative Emotions |
---|---|
Happy | Sad |
Elated | Annoyed |
Determined | Worried |
Pumped | Nervous |
Peaceful | Drained |
Joyful | Overwhelmed |
Confident | Frustrated |
Accomplished | Disappointed |
Inspired | Impatient |
Blessed | Empty |
Content | Angry |
Grateful | Fearful |
Enthusiastic | Lonely |
Excited | Jealous |
Relaxed | Stressed |
If your answer is positive, your emotional wellbeing is on the right track. Likewise, if the majority of your emotions are negative, you could probably use some work on your emotional wellbeing.
What Affects Emotional Wellbeing?
Every person is unique and will experience the exact event differently than the next person. Being individual is perhaps one of the greatest gifts for humankind. What a mundane world it would be if everyone acted and reacted the same!
That said, we develop emotional responses to all of our experiences in life, including our physical health and wellbeing. And naturally, some factors are more prominent than others.
Because we are looking at the broad picture here we will go over a few of major factors where emotional wellbeing may be challenged.
The 90/10 Principle & Accountability
Personal accountability says a great deal about a person’s emotional state.
Only 10% of life is what happens to you and the remaining 90% is how you react to it according to author Stephen Covey’s 90/10 principle.
Taking responsibility not only for our reactions, but the role we play in our lives is crucial for emotional wellbeing.
Your Sense of Purpose
We all need a driving force; a sense of purpose. Without purpose we are just wandering around aimlessly, unfulfilled and always falling short of what could be, and wondering how to live a happier and healthier life.
Humans have an innate desire to be contributors to society. It’s when our contributions are lined up with our core values that we feel the best.
Objectivity
Being emotional creatures sometimes puts us in a subjective mindset. We feel based on circumstances, or how we are personally interpreting the circumstances.
When we can stand outside ourselves and look at things from an objective point of view, it helps a great deal with being able to see things for what they are instead of an emotional perspective.
Open-Mindedness
Being able to think outside the box is a great skill. It’s even more powerful when we don’t allow ourselves to close our minds to new possibilities. For instance, another persons values may be different than ours, and that’s okay.
Acceptance of Uncertainty
The future isn’t given, nor is it written in stone. Accepting that sometimes we don’t have control of things goes a long way in emotional wellbeing. We don’t need absolute control to be happy.
Mindfulness
The practice of being in the moment is incredibly helpful for emotional health and wellbeing. Think of all the time wasted fretting over the past and worrying about what might be in the future. That time could be much better spent being in the here and now, soaking up every fantastic sensation and bathing in the beauty of right now.
The Balancing Act
And last but certainly not the least, the balance act of life. If we were robots, we’d have one job and we’d do it perfectly every single time. Over and over again. But we are humans and we have relationships, careers and families.
When one aspect of our lives is pulling too hard, the scales are tipped and it’s impossible to balance life. Pretty soon, everything else comes crashing down because we’ve neglected to keep things on an even keel. Balance is imperative.
Summing Up
As you can see, the factors affecting emotional wellbeing aren’t just cut and dry. We live multifaceted lives and do the best we can with the tools we have on board. Ultimately, happiness is the goal for most of us, and getting there is sometimes a chore.
But when we focus on the emotional wellbeing in a more broad aspect and refrain from plugging away over every tiny detail, the journey is much more enjoyable.
I hope this post gives you insight into the question asked: “What is emotional wellbeing?” because that’s the place we all need to be with our emotions.