In our previous article on emotional wellness, we stated clearly and fairly expansively what mental wellness is essentially about. Our mental wellness essentially has to do with knowing who we are, our strengths and weaknesses. Our mental wellness includes our ability to cope with normal stressors, like disappointment and failure, rude attitudes and rejection, as well as accident and illness, to mention but a few.
But in fact, our mental well-being has to do with our capacity to work productively and fruitfully. Our mental wellness is our emotional health- it hangs around our psychosocial functioning- our way of thinking, what we think, the impacts of these thoughts on our functioning, our way of thinking, as well as, overall, the quality of our self-knowledge.
In order to be truly emotionally well, it is very important to gain an excellent mastery of your mental functioning.
We have come up with the 3Ss and 3Rs- qualities around which our mental wellness functions. If you are able to gain excellent insights into each of these conditions, you will be well prepared to closely monitor red pointers that may emanate in the event of attacks against any of these behavioral tools we are poised to discuss below.
With an understanding of these qualities, you would understand how the world works better and be equipped with the tools for self-care and self-preservation in the case of life’s ever flying and flailing arrows of bouts.
Then, you can be truly emotionally healthy and truly happy.
The 3Ss
1. Self-awareness: This is a very important quality for achieving favorable mental ambiance. Know thyself is a wise saying. It is essential to have a balanced and honest view of your own personality. Self-awareness is a capacity to interact with others- with frankness and confidence. But also, with self-awareness, comes an ability for emotional intelligence and cultural competence. With excellent self-knowledge, not only will you stay strong and steady in the face of obstacles, but you will be able to shine and come out on a whole other side.
2. Self-discovery: We are complex animals in every way- physically, physiologically and psychosocially. Our behaviors, for example, are unpredictable. In fact, a raft of research has established that many persons don’t know why they behave the way they do- a lack of knowledge that impairs individual’s ability to get what they want, including emotional wellness. You have to discover yourself- your strengths and weaknesses.
3. Self-esteem: Self-respect, a confidence in your own merit or abilities is an important quality that is required for achieving mental wellness. And the surest way to have a fine self-esteem, to have a true belief in yourself, is to spend more time doing the things that you love to do, that you do well in them and they bring you satisfaction.
The 3Cs
4. Criticism:Every now and then, criticisms are going to come at you. Constructive or unconstructive, the greatest way to deal with them is to maintain an assertive stance. Do not be swept off your halo. Because many times, people’s opinions are wrong and insignificant. Stand up to them. “Positivity” is good in dealing with meanly-veiled criticisms, but you may just cut through the crap and do what pleases you. Tell them to get bleeped up. You should learn to not care about the things that people say or do in response to your attitudes and actions. Finding and doing something in your life is the most productive use of your time and energy. But remember, know thyself.
5. Challenges: Life has problems. The problems that confront man are existential. But it is ironical that having problems is one beauty of life. Harsh experiences are great. In fact, positive experience is itself a negative experience. Trust me. But paradoxically, the acceptance of one’s negative experience is itself a positive experience. So if you find that there are challenges, remember that accepting your experiences of life as great and amazing is the single greatest thing that you can do for yourself.
6. Collaboration: To have a balanced life, you must get out and mingle- even if it is a just a little bit of social experience. It doesn’t matter whether you are an introvert, you must find some time to mingle. There is no iota of doubt in the potential of collaborations and healthy relationships to make you a more balanced, happier person.