Everything Eudaimonia

Hey. As you can see, this is the week where the emotional disaster crybaby advises people on how to better manage and regulate emotions. As I mentioned in my previous post “What Are The Dimensions Of Wellness?” emotional well-being refers to our ability to process, manage, and regulate difficult emotions. It involves resilience in the face of difficulty, self-compassion, and stress management. Lastly, it includes our ability to adapt to and cope with life changes and challenges in a healthy way. A few weeks ago, I dove into the topic of physical health and wellness, and today, I wanted to revisit the emotional dimension of wellness and give some tangible ways we can improve this area of our lives. This will look different for all of us and habits that I practice and swear by may not work for you. What’s important though is that we have a few things we can turn to as a way to regulate our emotions and work with our feelings. This is of course part of a healthy lifestyle after all. 

When it comes to optimizing my emotional wellness, I have a few things that I turn to. The first thing is crying. I tend to do that a lot. I also turn to music, supportive people, journaling, and self-care techniques. Of course, there are other options, those are just my favorites.

However, if you’re looking for ways to optimize your emotional well-being, here are fifteen ideas:

How can I improve my emotional wellbeing?

1. Practice self-check-ins:

It’s important to check in with yourself daily to know and understand how you’re feeling. If you brush things off or just try to push through the difficult emotions with a smile on your face, shit will eventually hit the fan. Trust me. Make it a point every day to just take a moment, take a breath or something, and ask yourself how you feel and why you feel that way. This improves emotional well-being because it allows you to recognize early signs of stress, trauma, intense negative emotions, or other difficult feelings, allowing for timely intervention.

2. Talk to supportive people:

This helps improve our emotional well-being because it reduces loneliness and isolation that sometimes comes with difficult feelings. It helps reduce anxiety and depression, allows us to hear different perspectives, gain insight and advice, and feel supported emotionally. Talking openly and honestly about what you’re feeling can be uncomfortable, but it’s better than the alternative. Get that shit off your chest girlfriend.

3. Journal:

Walk your happy ass into a Target or Barnes and Noble and buy the cutest notebook you can find. Do a brain dump here and there. I don’t journal every day, it’s just not something I prioritize. However, you don’t have to practice this habit every day to reap the benefits. Just know yourself and learn to gauge how often it works for you. It’s freeing to get all your tangled thoughts into words and onto paper. Organizing your thoughts and expressing the way you feel is important for emotional health, and therefore journaling can only serve you well. This practice is a great way to improve emotional well-being because of the associated benefits such as stress reduction, improved communication skills, memory, and mental health as well as enhanced emotional stability and regulation, self-reflection, and personal development. It’s also practically free which is a plus.

4. Go to therapy:

The support of a medical professional is always an option if you feel you need it. There are also many benefits to therapy such as reduced anxiety and depression, increased self-awareness, enhanced emotional regulation, increased life satisfaction, and improved self-esteem. Therapy can provide us with healthy coping mechanisms and a greater understanding of self and help us to better manage emotions.   

5. Practice mindfulness meditation:

There’s a large body of research and evidence out there in favor of mindfulness meditation. Noted benefits include reduced blood pressure and inflammation; increased productivity and performance; enhanced relationships and interpersonal skills, memory, and cognition; and improved mood and emotional regulation. I know very few people that practice this and let’s be real, it’s boring as fuck. The research does not lie, however, so if you’re looking for more ways to improve your emotional and overall well-being, give it a try.

6. Practice self-compassion:

I’m sure we can all relate but I used to excel at beating myself up for the tiniest mishaps and mistakes. It’s much easier to have compassion for the people around us than it is to practice that mindset for ourselves. I’ve read a lot about self-compassion recently and it really is the only sane way to proceed in life. Perfectionism and unrealistic standards will get us nowhere but to the fine destination of burnout, self-hatred, and depression. Give yourself grace. There’s a quote that relates to this concept that I like from one of my favorite movies ever— JoJo Rabbit. There’s a scene when the main character looks in the mirror and says “Jojo Betzler. 10 and a half years old. Today… just do what you can.” I like his mindset. Lastly, the mindset and practice of self-compassion is important for our emotional health because it’s associated with increased resilience, improved self-esteem, enhanced mood regulation, and decreased anxiety and depression.

7. Have a good cry:

Never underestimate the power of a good cry. Sometimes you gotta let that shit out. Crying is actually extremely healthy although it’s stigmatized and often frowned upon. However, crying makes you feel better and allows you to regulate and relieve a buildup of negative emotions. Some of the known benefits of crying include enhanced mood, emotional balance, grief recovery, stress management, and pain management. It’s a healthier and more productive alternative to emotional eating, getting angry with others, or punching a wall. Remember that.

8. Listen to music:

Take the time to make a long playlist of only songs that you can relate to on an emotional level. Songs that speak to you. When you’re having the worst day of all time, a playlist like this can help you process your emotions and work with the way you feel. When you’re working through difficult emotions it can be helpful to have songs that make you think. Help you realize the world is bigger than just you. There are so many people who have felt the same way and been through similar situations. We’re never alone in any experience no matter how isolated it may feel. There are so many people on this damn planet and luckily a few of them are talented enough to articulate those struggles into music. Lastly, a playlist like this is super helpful because when you’re emotionally distressed and on the verge of tears, the last thing you want to happen is hit shuffle on Spotify and have Juju on that Beat or Tyler the Creators version of You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch start playing. Or who the hell knows, maybe that’s exactly what needs to happen. It’s extremely humbling, to say the least. May or may not be speaking from personal experience.

9. Practice self-care and relaxation techniques:

Time to relax is so important. I say that with my chest too considering that’s all I’ve fucking done today. For the most part. I did box 15 rounds this morning followed by a short cardio and upper body circuit, but since then I’ve played at the coffee shop, watched Hulu in bed, and taken a 2-hour nap. Not the most productive I’ve been, but I’m also learning not to push myself too hard. To have a good productivity and rest balance. Otherwise, I’ll go mad. Completely batshit insane. Take care of yourself, love. Self-care and relaxation have proven beneficial in numerous ways including disease prevention, decreased stress, better sleep, reduced burnout, enhanced productivity, and increased life satisfaction.

10. Accept the way you feel:

Be aware of what’s going on in your mind and accept it. Don’t judge yourself for having negative thoughts or feelings. We’re all human after all and that’s just part of the gig. Accepting your emotions first allows you to then work with them and find solutions. When we avoid and dismiss our feelings we can’t improve the situation. We need to be honest with ourselves first. This is an important practice for emotional wellness because it builds resilience to stress, allows us to process our emotions, increases self-awareness, and improves emotional regulation.

11. Create time for just you:

Allow yourself to have quality alone time to just be with yourself and sit with your emotions, whether those be positive or negative ones. When you’re always on go mode or surrounded by other people it can be a challenge to look inward and tend to your own needs. Just as time spent with others is important for emotional health, so is spending time alone. Recharge that social battery and take care of your needs. Benefits of alone time include stress reduction, increased productivity, emotional regulation, and enhanced confidence and independence. This also gives us time to reflect, get to know ourselves, and regain energy.  

12. Speak kindly to yourself:

We all know how we speak to ourselves matters, yet it can still be difficult not to beat ourselves up. Positive self-talk not only creates a better mental environment for us but also reduces stress, enhances coping mechanisms, boosts self-esteem, increases happiness and confidence, and improves resilience. All good things—so remember to speak to yourself as you would a friend or a loved one. Being talked down to all day is good for precisely nobody, so why should we do it to ourselves?

13. Focus on what you can control:

A lot of the reasons for emotional turbulence are attributable to the bullshit outside our control. Let that shit go. Of course easier said than done, and I also work on this constantly. It’s helpful to remember that it is pointless and energy-draining to fixate on the things that I cannot actively do anything about. And that helpless worrying is good for no one. Only focusing on what’s in your circle of control reduces stress, improves decision-making, and empowers agency. Do your best with the things you can actively influence and pursue. And the rest of it? Lay that shit to rest.

14. Take time for activities that require no thought:

Give yourself a damn break. For me, this unfortunately means Instagram reels or watching Impractical Jokers or The Simpsons. When we give ourselves that time to rest our minds and bodies and step away from the emotional roller coaster that each day can be, we can bounce back better. Time to “just be” improves mental clarity, relationships, and work-life balance; boosts creativity and mood; and reduces anxiety and depression. Now that I’m writing about it, I’m having an intense craving to open Instagram and scroll through the reels that people I follow have liked. However, I spent way too much time doing that last night.

15. Set boundaries and stick to them:

Having a clear set of boundaries for yourself is essential to emotional and overall well-being. The benefits of setting and sticking to boundaries include improved self-esteem, stronger relationships, better communication, increased productivity, and enhanced feelings of control in life. When boundaries are murky however it can be easy to get taken advantage of, say yes to things that drain your energy, and burn yourself out. Knowing what you want to spend your time and energy on and following through with that regardless of what other people think is a good thing. No matter how selfish people tell you that you are. Looking out for yourself and protecting your peace is not selfish though. I think it’s admirable in a world that’s always expecting more and more until people finally break. Please just do what the hell you want. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, you can not give your best to others and this world, if you’re not giving your best to yourself first.

Closing:

Ok, this is the end of the post. I have nothing more to say at the moment. If you took the time to read this, I appreciate you and your mind. I hope you found the content helpful and maybe noted a few tips you want to incorporate more into your own life. I know sometimes I should take my own advice and take these things into more consideration. It wouldn’t hurt to improve my emotional well-being, I know that for sure.

Anyway, I say this all the time but I just really have the best time spitting this shit out for you and then shamelessly posting it on the internet. What a fun little hobby this is. With that being said, you might hear from me next week if all goes according to plan. Until then, stay humble.