When we have conversations around health, we always focus on physical health, with mental health somewhere in the background. Even then, some people believe mental health isn’t a real thing. The stigma behind mental health is still around. In these conversations, we also forget other essential areas of health. The biggest one that we forget is emotional health (which goes hand in hand with mental health! Insert the hands of solidarity meme here.)
Today I’m breaking down what emotional health is and the signs you need to watch out for when it isn’t in the best condition!
What is emotional health?
Now you’ve heard me mention emotional health four times. If you are not aware, emotional health is how we process our emotions, how we deal with them, how we interact with others, and how self-aware we are of what's making us happy or sad.
Many believe emotional health can impact mental health and vice versa, especially as our emotions are sometimes a symptom of skewed mental health. We should always try to maintain our emotional and mental health as it can affect our physical health, and being in a bad place mentally is never good!
Signs you have bad emotional health
Snapping
Suppose you find yourself snapping a lot at people, sometimes over nothing or a minor subject. If you don’t usually snap at people, then you are most likely stressed. Unable to relax or positively manage that emotion. Try identifying areas of life that make you stressed (it will most likely be your job, primarily if you work in retail.) Take a couple of extra breaks or get a fidget toy to use during the workday. It will decrease the stress and give you an excellent outlet to deal with it. Which should lower the amount you snap at people and stay bubbly or grumpy.
Gets angry easily
There are many reasons people get angry, from stress, arguments, bad mental health or hitting your little toe on a piece of lego. We’ve all been there! However, if you get irritable for no reason or over the stuff you typically wouldn’t, check in with your emotions, try to figure out if it’s something physical getting you down. Talk to others if needed, go to a doctor for some medication.
Close yourself off
We all have annoying family members, and some we cut off completely. Sometimes, we cut ourselves off when we get too busy or something else is going on. Are you finding yourself struggling to talk to friends and family? Or struggling to explain what’s going on in your life? Then your emotional health may be on the blink, which will start to mess with your mental health. Try to send a message a day to a family member you can tolerate, or try to find decent friends online and vent to them.
Hopeless
Are you a bubbly, happy go lucky type of person, or are you slightly pessimistic? No matter your mood or style of personality, has the amount you’ve felt hopeless increased? Have you felt a bit aimless? If so, then that could be another sign your emotional health isn’t at its best!
There are hundreds of signs of poor emotional wellbeing, but these are the topmost noticeable ones that I think everyone can keep track of and quickly spot and be aware of! You can probably see the links to mental health as some of the symptoms of poor emotional health also overlap with various mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety.
Ways to help emotional health
I can already hear you through the screen going, ‘Okay, so how do I improve that? How will I know?’ Well, there are many ways you can improve emotional health.
Journaling
Many people and certified mental health websites recommend journaling. It enables you to have a safe place outside of personal and familial circles, where you can freely express yourself and talk about whatever you want. Plus, you have to write about your emotions and hopes and dreams in journaling, which will help you clear your head!
Mood tracker
If you are into bullet journalling, you already know this one. You can make an A4 calendar and track how you've been feeding throughout a day or month. It can be a good measure of where you are emotionally and help you see where you need to improve. Even if you don't bullet journal, then you can still make a mood tracker. It doesn't have to be anything fancy.
Music
music is great I can help our emotions you can make custom sad or happy it's a thing listen to when we win the car listening to music is good for emotional health because it can help change your mood but also for feeling down or sad you can pick up a playlist, and it's another good tracker Plus you can use it to match your mood and sometimes I can help you out of a what spot as good as the other options
Talking to a therapist
If you can afford it or if you can find one and are not stuck on some long waiting list and if your emotional health or mental health is that bad, then talking to a therapist can help you figure out what's going on and give you some good coping strategies to make it better.
I hope you've enjoyed reading about emotional health and have found some good ways to monitor it.
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