“Being able to be your true self is one of the strongest components of good mental health.”
– Lauren Fogel Mersy
As we move toward the end of the year, the days will get shorter and colder. The holidays will descend upon us. These changes have a mental effect on many individuals. So, as we continue on the road to self-actualization and living our personal philosophy. We will look at the components of good mental health.
Our mental state affects our overall well-being. We cannot only practice self-care routines that take care of our visible selves. We must also practice self-care to take care of our inner selves. We need to identify where we are out of alignment and develop a plan of action to improve our mental state. Just watching the news can bring you down or create fear. Our relationships are emotional and can either bring us down or boost our mood. We need to find strategies to manage our emotions and mental states.
A lot of our thinking patterns cause us stress. We often let intrusive thoughts in that are not necessarily based in reality. Doubting ourselves, constant self-criticism, or a belief that we are less than destroys our confidence and can lead to anxiety or depression. Although low self-esteem is not a mental illness, it can cause psychological stress. Then we get stuck in a cycle of negative feelings of inadequacy.
We need to shift our thought patterns intentionally to disrupt this path of negativity. Improving our emotional health leads to better self-esteem, increased resilience, and a greater sense of worth. Note that I am not a psychologist; I am a teacher and researcher. So, I encourage you to seek help from a qualified professional if you are dealing with personal mental health issues. My goal is to help you explore your psychological landscape and to set goals for improvement. After all, this is about quality of life.
Mental health challenges
Mental and emotional health are the basis of psychological well-being. Psychological health encompasses our cognitive, emotional, and social skills. The ways we think, feel, relate, and behave. Mental health touches everything, from managing stress to relationships and choices.
Our mental health is shaped by several factors, including genetics, chemistry, early childhood experiences, and trauma. It may only be stress or anxiety, but mental health issues can also be more serious, like depression, bipolar disorder, or OCD. These conditions are complex, but they are treatable.
Mental health issues are often not noticed, such as an inability to focus, isolation from others, persistent fatigue, or irritability. However, they can affect our relationships, creativity, our work performance, and distort our sense of purpose and direction. When we become emotionally imbalanced, our world looks different, and even simple tasks can feel daunting.
Mental health doesn’t mean a life without challenges. It means that it is within our ability to react to challenges with flexibility and resilience. The goal is to develop coping strategies to avoid being devastated by emotional obstacles.
7 Behaviors for Improving Mental Health, by Brad Bowins (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
Emotional wellness and mental fitness
Mental and emotional health are linked. Emotional health refers to our capacity to perceive, express, and regulate our emotions. How we think, feel, and our ability to cope. When we are emotionally healthy, we can cope with discomfort, and instead of impulsively responding, we can form intentional responses. We can strengthen emotional well-being through intentional strategies.
Grief and loss or major life upheavals are temporary. However, if we do not process them, they may contribute to chronic mental stress. Rather than suppressing emotions or reacting impulsively, the first step is to recognize and name them. Are you feeling frustrated, sad, excited, or anxious? Labeling emotions helps bring clarity and prevents them from becoming overwhelming. Learning to regulate our emotions is essential to our health.
Strategies that support both mental and emotional health
Our emotions can be abstract; we cannot see them, but they are deeply connected to the physical processes of the body and brain. Feelings result from complex interactions among the brain, hormones, and body.
When you feel fear, your body triggers a fight-or-flight response; your heart rate increases, adrenaline flows, and your muscles tense. When you feel joy, the release of dopamine and serotonin creates a feeling of warmth or maybe even physical energy.
Beyond these direct biochemical reactions, emotions also manifest in bodily states. Stress might cause tightness in the chest, a headache, or digestive issues, while calmness might slow your breathing and relax your muscles. Our feelings don’t just exist in the brain but are shaped by our entire physical experience.
Our physical health directly affects our mental and emotional health. Balancing our nutritional intake is essential; staying hydrated supports our moods and mental clarity. Being physically active increases our feel-good hormones. Proper sleep helps consolidate memory and regulate emotions.
About Mental Health by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Our best mental health tips – backed by research, by the Mental Health Foundation
Keeping your mind active is protective against depression and cognitive decline. Become a lifelong learner; mastering a new skill will improve your mind. Play games and puzzles, learn a new language, or take a class. Your mind is like a machine; if you don’t use it, it becomes rusty.
Nurture your social life; strong relationships and community ties can help fight stress. Maintaining meaningful relationships can improve your psychological health.
Writing has always been my personal psychologist. I have maintained journals since I was a young girl. Writing my feelings down on paper helps me to visualize them in a way that gives them form. Then, I can deal with the emotions. Since I have maintained these journals for many years, they offer a historical perspective on my mental and emotional state. I can identify trends, causes, and areas of growth. Sometimes, reading what I wrote at a different time gives me a perspective that I could not see when I was too close to the issue.
The Magic of Journaling – A Guide to Finding Clarity and Maintaining Focus
Focused Journaling – Expressing Your Thoughts and Emotions
Some mental health conditions are neurobiological or connected to past trauma. You should seek professional support when needed. The stress of these conditions will continue to break down your physical and mental health.
Rethinking our thinking
Cognitive distortions, automatic, often unconscious thought patterns, can entrap us. For example, all-or-nothing or black and white thinking, focusing on the negative, or catastrophizing, assuming the absolute worst in any situation.
In all-or-nothing thinking, we may tell ourselves that we are not perfect; therefore, we are failures. When catastrophizing, we may think one mistake will ruin everything.
These beliefs don’t just distort your reality. They define it. However, the brain is quite adaptable. We can rewire these patterns and cultivate a growth mindset through conscious effort, often with the support of professional guidance. One who sees challenges as opportunities and insists on the possibility of change.
Your thoughts are not facts. They are narratives, some inherited, some outdated, some protective, some harmful. You can rewrite them.
Mental health is a human issue
Mental illness does not discriminate. It cuts across age, culture, socioeconomic status, and belief systems. While diagnoses may differ, the common thread is suffering and the hope of healing.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately one in five adults in the United States lives with a diagnosable mental disorder. But the real story is more personal. People carry their own stories of cracks or breaks in their mental health. As stated above, some are temporary, such as grief, while others can stay with us throughout our lives.
For instance, after a major surgery, I experienced hallucinations caused by the drugs used in my treatment. I became convinced I was being held prisoner. Restrained because of my erratic behavior, I developed an intense, irrational fear of confinement. No one labeled me with a mental health condition, but the experience etched itself into my body and mind. It was real. And it changed me, and I became claustrophobic. I know it is irrational, yet the stress is real.
Mental health matters even when it is invisible. Even when it does not have a name. Even when it passes. However, we can change lifestyle, thought patterns, our social networks, and self-care routines.
Remember, your mind is not broken. It’s constantly changing and needs careful attention. Mental health is not just about surviving. It is about living fully.
“Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.”
– Roy T. Bennett
Conclusion
Prioritize your physical health by ensuring you get a balanced nutritional diet, get enough sleep, and stay hydrated. A sedentary lifestyle will slowly kill you; it is bad for your physical and mental health. Get up, get moving, and get plenty of sunshine every day. Go to a gym; you might make some friends.
Feeling emotions fully, whether sadness, elation, or anything in between, is a fundamental part of emotional regulation. Feeling sad is often looked at as something to get past, but it serves an important function. Sadness can allow the body and mind to process unpleasant experiences, such as the loss of a loved one, disappointment, or change.
Our thoughts influence our emotions. It is about how you look at life. By reframing a setback as a learning experience or seeing a challenge as an opportunity, we can reduce our stress.
Practice self-reflection and find your center, a calm and peaceful place. Live in the present (the past is memories, and the future is an imagined visualization, both of which can cause stress).
Creative outlets such as art, writing, and music can help you regulate your emotions.
If you cannot cope with life, if it is overwhelming, causing you consistent anxiety or depression. Seek help.
Recommended Reading
Tame Your Thoughts: Three Tools to Renew Your Mind and Transform Your Life, by Max Lucado
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D.
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life, by Martin E.P. Seligman
Citations
Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
Photo by Ahsan Sayeed on Unsplash
Photo by Pedro Sanz on Unsplash
Photo by Pedro Sanz on Unsplash