How to Be Emotionally and Mentally Healthy

As we grow into the adults we are today, we may find ourselves lacking in some aspects of our life. It’s possible that the certain life lessons we were supposed to learn along the way never happened for us or went in a direction it wasn’t supposed to. This could, in turn, hinder us from learning how to be emotionally and mentally healthy. It’s just as important to feed our brains and emotional wellbeing as it is to grow into a hardworking individual. 

Learning about emotional and mental health is a great way to become a healthy, functioning adult that builds meaningful and long-lasting relationships with the people around us. By understanding the ins and outs of what makes us who we are, we can learn what is best for ourselves and how we can improve in certain aspects of our life. 

What Is Emotional and Mental Health?

Above all else, being an emotionally healthy person and having the mentally healthy characteristics you need will help shape the connections you build with others in your life and with yourself. Taking the time to learn what it takes to be emotionally and mentally healthy is the first step!

Being emotionally healthy can have several different meanings but it all boils down to our sense of wellbeing and how we react to life in general. Our ability to acknowledge our thoughts and feelings and not suppress these emotions is vital in adulthood. There will be times when we are reactive to situations, this is why we should constantly practice confronting these emotions and staying in control of our reactions. This will teach us not to stay in that childlike mindset of blowing up when things don’t go our way. 

As you’re working through your emotional and mental health and the benefits that come with that, you’ll often see that your mental health is directly dependent on your emotional health. These two concepts go hand in hand with each other. What are you doing with your feelings after you acknowledge them? By sitting in a space for yourself and having the capacity to have that self-love or self-parenting is being mentally healthy. 

Having good mental health is processing your feelings and not staying stuck in them. Ask yourself why you feel a certain way and what stories are coming up. This greatly helps you to unravel those stories and move forward with how we handle that.

It won’t always be easy concluding that you need to work on yourself, but to break the cycle that you’ve lived in for so long, you need to begin to work on who you are and who you want to be. Identifying that will give you an ultimate goal to work towards and further motivate you to be the best version of yourself that you deserve to have! When we are healthy, we attract healthy people into our lives and that is something we all need more of. 

Being An Emotionally and Mentally Healthy Adult

After you start to understand what it means to be emotionally and mentally healthy, it's equally important to begin practicing your newfound skills. Through repetition, it will eventually start to become a common thing for us during the times we need it the most. There are many ways to go about becoming an emotionally and mentally healthy adult and it’s always best to find what works best for you!

1. Validation 

Being able to validate others' emotions is just as important as validating your own. If you’re unable to do it for yourself, how effectively are you able to do it for others? Allow yourself to sit down and acknowledge that the way you feel is okay. Don’t judge your emotions and why you feel the way you do, just be present for yourself during that time and don’t internalize your experiences or thoughts. 

2. Coping with your emotions 

After validation, there arises another challenge of coping with your emotions. The most critical thing to take away is: Let your emotions out. Don’t suppress your thoughts and feelings and shove them down. This is unhealthy and can later lead to you blowing up like a volcano that has bottled it up for too long. Try going for a walk, journaling your emotions, doing some chores, or simply meditating and processing through it alone. Whatever it may be, finding a way to cope with your emotions will help you in the long run. 

3. Seeing our stories 

Each of us has a story that makes up why we feel the way we do in certain situations. If you were bitten by a dog when you were younger, you may feel an overall fear towards dogs in your adulthood. Some of these stories may be more severe and are often time suppressed in the back of our minds. When emotions or thoughts come up, is there a story attached to them? Finding the “cause” of why we feel so strongly in circumstances can increase our self-awareness. 

4. Having self-love

The most important relationship you’ll ever have is with yourself. You are with yourself 24/7 and if you aren’t able to love who you are, it will create problems throughout your life. Become your own best friend and do activities that will help you realize your worth. It can come in many different ways that only you will be able to discover as you learn more about yourself. Having self-love will allow you to become patient while you work on who you want to be and have compassion during the bumpy parts of this process. 

As you begin to navigate what it means to be an emotionally and mentally healthy adult, you’ll often feel like you aren’t making progress and begin to tell yourself it isn’t worth it. Don’t allow that negative self-talk into your journey. Healing and becoming better versions of ourselves doesn’t happen overnight but as long as you make a habit or routine to constantly improve you’ll soon find that the benefits will be well worth it in the end.