Do you want to improve your mood, manage your emotions, or create resilience? These life-changing mental health and well-being practices can teach you how.
Your mental health has an impact on how you think, feel, and act in everyday situations. It also has an impact on your ability to deal with stress, overcome obstacles, form relationships, and recover from disappointments and tragedies in life.
Mental wellness is more than just the absence of mental illnesses. Being mentally or emotionally well entails much more than avoiding sadness, anxiety, or other psychological problems. Mental health refers to the presence of positive attributes rather than the absence of mental disorders.
Anyone can have mental or emotional health issues, and most of us will at some point in our lives. One out of every five of us will be diagnosed with a mental illness this year. Despite the prevalence of mental health issues, many of us make little attempt to improve our circumstances. We try to tough it out by distracting ourselves or self-medicating with drink, drugs, or self-destructive habits. We bury our troubles in the hopes that no one will notice. We are hopeful that our condition will improve on its own over time. Or we give up, convincing ourselves that “this is just who we are.”
You will need the companionship of others to feel and operate at your best, no matter how much time you commit to improving your mental and emotional health. Humans are social creatures that require emotional ties and pleasant interactions. We were not designed to live, much less prosper, in isolation. Even when our social brains have made us cautious and skeptical of others, we crave company.
Calls and social media have their uses, but nothing beats the stress-relieving and mood-boosting power of meaningful face-to-face interaction with others. The idea is to talk to someone who is a “good listener”—someone you can talk to in person on a regular basis and who will listen to you without imposing their own opinions on how you should think or feel. A good listener will not interrupt, condemn, or criticize you while listening to the feelings behind your words.
Reaching out is not a sign of weakness, and it will not burden others. If you trust someone enough to confide in them, they will be flattered. If you don’t have someone to turn to, there are some effective strategies to make new acquaintances and expand your support network. Meanwhile, talking face-to-face with acquaintances or people you meet during the day, such as neighbors, people in the checkout line or on the bus, or the person who serves you your morning coffee, has a lot of advantages. Make direct eye contact and share a polite greeting, a smile, or a small chat.
