The Importance Of Focusing On Your Emotional Wellbeing

Our mission is to continue Dr. Bach’s work to help you understand, and care for, your emotional wellbeing, so you can live a life of fulfillment, achievement, and contentment.

In this article, we take a look at what emotional health is, and why it’s important.

What is emotional wellbeing?

Emotional wellbeing is at the heart of our daily lives. Whether we are happy, fearful, excited or angry, our emotions can influence the way we approach our daily activities. Every decision we make is governed by our state of mind in some small way, so having good emotional health is essential to living a full and balanced life.

Emotional health is an extension of mental health, though the two are often confused. While mental health relates to the functioning of the mind, emotional health is more about our approach to life, and our ability to live a life of wellness. (See also: A Complete Guide To Your Emotions.)

It’s important to remember that emotional health is not fixed: it fluctuates over time, depending on your physical health, your experiences, and a myriad of things that might be happening in your personal, or work life. Times of great change can draw on your emotional reservoir, but the more you care for your emotional health, and build your resources, the more content you will be.

Put simply, emotional health is crucial for overall wellbeing.

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The benefits of emotional health

Building our emotional strength doesn’t necessarily mean that life will be easy, or perfect, or that we won’t have negative thoughts. Instead, it means being able to navigate life’s ups, and downs with confidence, and resilience, and bouncing back when things don’t go to plan.

Being able to manage our emotions, thoughts, and feelings empowers us to make better decisions, and approach life with optimism. The journey to building your emotional health is also one of personal growth, as you become more productive, move closer to your goals, and feel good in yourself.

And of course, feeling emotionally balanced enables us to enjoy more fulfilling relationships with the people we love, and interact with. This is a huge part of what we call emotional intelligence. (See our related article: Can you improve your emotional intelligence?)

But one of the biggest advantages of emotional health is the positive impact it can have on your physical health. You have probably noticed how spending time with loved ones can leave you feeling relaxed, or how an argument can leave you feeling physically tense.

In fact, the connection between emotional, and physical health is a two-way street: your physical health can affect your emotions, and your emotions play a role in your physical health. We’ve probably all experienced feelings of nausea before doing something nerve-wracking, or enjoyed the rush of mood-boosting endorphins after a joyful dance class, or brisk walk!

Caring for your emotional health

Emotional health is a skill. It is not something we’re born with, nor something we either have, or do not have.

Think of it like physical fitness — you may not be able to run 5K today, but if you start moving a little more each day, before long you’ll find that you’re running 5k, and beyond with ease. Likewise, if you practice yoga a few times a week, and then stop for a few months, you’ll soon discover that you aren’t quite as flexible as before!

There are many ways to be proactive in strengthening your emotional health, such as:

• Practicing mindfulness to become more aware of your thoughts, and feelings
• Practicing gratitude to develop the habit of positive thinking
• Taking care of your physical health to promote overall health, and wellbeing
• Spending time with friends (and pets!) to forge a support network, and share your emotional experiences
• Asking for help when you need it, whether that’s from a friend, colleague, or health professional

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