Exploring Emotional Wellness

​Hey friends! Ready to talk about emotional wellness today?!
 
First, let’s talk about what emotional wellness is. Simply put, emotional wellness is working on our side of the street to keep it clean. 
 
That means engaging in self-discovery and trauma work so that we can know why we show up the way we do in relationships and learn to stop responding from our trauma and instead from our authentic selves. 
 
It also means that we learn how to identify and express our emotions in a healthy way with those that are safe to share with. 
 
And more importantly (in my opinion), emotional wellness means managing stress effectively. I will admit, this is one I struggle with but I will share more about that later……
 
So, what are some action steps we can take on the concepts above?  I am so glad you asked ;)
 

• Go to therapy and/or a support group. Seriously. We can only work on what we know is an issue and that gives us limited insight into the bigger picture. However, when we are able to explore ideas with a therapist or hear peers share in a group, we gain awareness of where our blind spots are. 
• Read a book. You know I love a good self-help book and there are SO many out there for us to explore our “stuff”. Need some ideas on my favorites? Check out the resource section here.
• Slow down and notice what you are feeling. Take a deep breath and scan your body and notice any areas where you feel tighten or tension. What may be the emotion associated with that feeling for you? It is also a good practice to do a daily feelings check in. This can be done in your journal or with your partner.  To do this, you will go through each of the eight basic emotions (fear, pain, shame, guilt, anger, joy, passion, love) and notice a time when you have felt each one of those emotions in the last 24 hours. Believe it or not, if you are truly in touch with your emotions you will have felt each emotion at least once today. 
• Notice the story you are telling yourself about the emotion and/or experience. Emotions last about 90 seconds but it is the story we tell ourselves about it that last longer. Are you telling yourself you are overwhelmed and can’t do it? Then that is how you are going to feel. Are you letting your itty bitty shitty committee take over? That is going to impact your perception of the situation. 
• Learn to manage your stress better. I will be the first to admit I am a hypocrite on this one. I struggle with this so much and my body is being impacted because of it (hello adrenal fatigue and high cortisol levels). For me, if I feel overwhelmed, instead of doing what I know will help me, I tend to shut down. I just don’t do anything which of course makes everything worse. So, I have been exploring why I do that. For me, the story I tell myself about the stress is actually worse than the stressor itself so my work is changing my internal narrative about the situation. That means journaling, identifying and reframing my cognitive distortions and practicing self-care. 

 
Those are just a few of the many ways to work on the emotional dimension of wellness. There are so many ways so find what works for you and I will chat with you next week as we discuss the next dimension of wellness.