Life does not come without its challenges. There are a lot of factors that can make some days or even weeks more overwhelming than others. Emotional health is someone’s ability to manage their thoughts, feelings, and emotions healthily during the highs and lows in life. When someone has good emotional health, they have awareness of their thoughts and feelings and have strategies in place to help them deal with challenging situations. When people have poor emotional health, they become trapped in the negative aspects of life and without effective support or coping skills in place they can have a hard time dealing with difficult situations. Dealing with difficult emotions is a natural part of being human, so accepting and not fighting them helps emotionally healthy people cope with the twists and turns of life.

However, if someone is emotionally healthy it doesn’t mean they are free from experiencing negative emotions, they just have coping mechanisms in place that help them bounce back from setbacks. Learning to recognise and manage any difficult emotions can help prevent someone from being trapped in a negative spiral.

Our emotional health plays a crucial role in our mental and physical wellbeing. Working on building your emotional health can provide some insight into yourself, build resilience to handle difficult situations and boost your overall wellbeing. Working on skills to be emotionally healthy has benefits in our professional and personal lives so here are a few things you can try to improve your emotional health.

Identify The Root Cause

Identifying the cause of stress in your life makes it easier to implement effective management strategies and techniques. Look for any patterns or situations that trigger your negative thoughts or feelings. When you start to notice these emotions, you can get into the routine of choosing how you want to respond to them and practice techniques that help you before it gets too overwhelming.

Look After Yourself

If negative emotions are starting to get the better of you, taking care of your basic needs can help you reset. This includes getting enough sleep, eating a healthy diet and regular exercise. Practising self-care and relaxation or mindfulness techniques can be valuable tools to help us cope with our emotions and stress.

Maintaining a healthy balance within your life is also important, so make sure you schedule regular time in your week for things you enjoy. Investing time into focusing on a hobby that gives you something to look forward to can help you manage stress and offer an escape when things become too overwhelming.

Look For The Treasure

Cultivating a focus on values can help improve your emotional health. Finding fulfilment in situations can help you unhook from the negative and encourage a positive behavioural shift at the same time. There is a lot in life that you can’t control, but you can control how you react to situations.

Some find practising gratitude helpful in shifting their mindset. Set aside a couple of minutes a day to journal things you are grateful for and all the positive things currently in your life. This can change the way we approach and see the world and encourage a shift.

Foster Connections

It can be scary talking about how you feel but relying on a support network can be beneficial when you start to feel overwhelmed. When negative thoughts or emotions start to become too much try spending quality time with people that make you happy. Keeping your feelings inside will only add to your stress and makes you feel distant from your loved ones, which can make you feel more isolated thus creating a negative cycle.

Sharing how you are feeling can give you some clarity on your situation. If you are struggling it might be a good idea to work with a therapist who can help you identify areas of your emotional health you want to work on and co-create a plan to achieve your goals.

Final Note

Good emotional health is important for your overall wellbeing and is a skill that can be learned by anyone at any point in life. Building emotional health is a process rather than an end goal. However, taking small steps and being dedicated to improving it will transform how you manage negative feelings and thoughts. The better we learn to handle stress, the better we feel and being emotionally healthy helps build resilience when handling difficult situations now and in the future.

Emotions can and will sometimes get the better of you but learning coping strategies to deal with them will make it a lot easier. Managing our emotions is part of being human and everyone deals with good and bad days but making our emotional health a priority is key to living a happier and more balanced life.