Often, we tend to prioritize our physical health over our mental health and emotional wellness. Emotional wellness is frequently overlooked and not given the attention it deserves.
So, what is emotional wellness? It is understanding and managing your emotions, which can help you endure other, broader mental health challenges. Emotional wellness is essential for a balanced and healthy life, as well as vital for learning, productivity, and building our most important relationships.
October is Emotional Wellness Month, so it’s a great time to add some emotional wellness practices to your life. Here are some suggestions:
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps us be more aware of our emotions and better able to deal with them. Engaging in activities such as meditation, yoga, and/or tai chi helps enhance emotional resilience and better manage stress. A lot of people are intimidated by mindfulness, but it’s not as hard as you think. Check out Sworkit’s Mindfulness collection for easy mindfulness meditations that can help with self-esteem, relaxation, and even productivity.
Make Social Connections
Loneliness can be actively destructive to your health. Make sure to spend time with friends, family, or coworkers to get the emotional support you need and strengthen your social connections. Seek out people who make you feel better just to be around, regardless of who they are. Engage in social activities with the people you feel closest to. It helps everyone improve emotional health.
Plan Self-Care Activities
A lot of us are too “busy” to take care of ourselves. Actively schedule time in your routine for self-care. This might look like a spa day, a massage, a good workout, or reading a good book. It might look like a couple of episodes of your favorite TV show, or a relaxing video game. It doesn’t matter what your self-care activity is. It should just be something you do regularly that feels good and recharges your emotional batteries.
Develop Coping Skills
Frankly, we’re all stressed. Coping skills help you balance your emotions, manage stress, and take time for yourself. This might mean taking a few deep breaths when you start to struggle. It might mean regular exercise. It also might mean creative outlets. journaling, photography, or cross-stitching. Any kind of creative hobby helps with your stress levels.
Breathing exercises are one of the easiest ways to quickly calm yourself down. For example, check out our box breathing exercise to improve mindfulness and relaxation. Paced breathing is another good way to calm yourself down, refocus, and prevent anxiety.
Disconnect From Digital Devices
Take a break from your digital devices. Allocate time to unplug from technology. You may find you need to do something specific to do this, such as reading a physical book or taking a long walk without your phone.
This can reduce feelings of being overwhelmed by the world, and allow you to take a break from the news cycle. It’s particularly important to disconnect before bed, as staying on devices late can compromise sleep. Reading a physical book for 30 to 60 minutes is an ideal way to wind down. Another stress reliever is a long soak in the tub!
Seek Professional Help
If you still aren’t coping well, it might be time to seek professional help. A good counselor can give you more tools to handle emotional wellness and support you through all your emotional and mental challenges. Don’t be afraid to shop around to find the right person.
This Emotional Wellness Month, prioritize your mental health and try some or all of these ways to support emotional wellness. It’s worth spending this time on yourself and developing emotional resilience, improved stress management, and healthier relationship patterns.
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