What is emotional wellbeing?

Emotional wellbeing is at the heart of our daily lives. Whether we are happy, fearful, excited or angry, our emotions can influence the way we approach our daily activities. Every decision we make is governed by our state of mind in some small way, so having good emotional health is essential to living a full, and balanced life. It’s important to remember that emotional health is not fixed: it fluctuates over time, depending on your physical health, your experiences, and a myriad of things that might be happening in your personal, or work life.

Times of great change can draw on your emotional reservoir, but the more you care for your emotional health, and build your resources, the more content you will be.

The benefits of emotional health

Building our emotional strength doesn’t necessarily mean that life will be easy, or perfect, or that we won’t have negative thoughts. Instead, it means being able to navigate life’s ups, and downs with confidence, and resilience, and bouncing back when things don’t go to plan. But one of the biggest advantages of emotional health is the positive impact it can have on your physical health.

There are many ways to be proactive in strengthening your emotional health, such as:

• Practicing mindfulness to become more aware of your thoughts, and feelings

• Practicing gratitude to develop the habit of positive thinking

• Taking care of your physical health to promote overall health, and wellbeing

• Spending time with friends (and pets!) to forge a support network, and share your emotional experiences

• Asking for help when you need it, whether that’s from a friend, colleague, or health professional.