When someone says, "you are looking very well today." What do they really mean? There are many different type of wellness. But the one that I feel that is often over looked and disregarded is emotional wellness. I would like to talk about the actual definition, the factors, and a couple of personal experiences that make up emotional wellness in the day-to-day life.
If you were to look at the online encyclopedia Encarta, you would find that it states emotional wellness as "a psychological state of well being, characterized by continuing personal growth as a sense of purpose in life, self-acceptance, and positive relations with others." The textbook for this class states, emotional wellness is "the dynamic state that fluctuates with your physical, intellectual, spiritual, interpersonal and social, and environmental wellness." There are different aspects of how different people view emotional wellness. I view good emotional wellness as being able to balance between positive and negative emotions. .
One of the main factors of emotional health is stress. In general, we all experience stress of some level from time to time. When there are demands placed upon us exceed our resources that is when stress is most common. There are lots of sources of stress, including major life events ranging from death of a loved one to the loss of a job. These events can overwhelm a person's ability to cope and function effectively. In my life, I find that stress is a building slowly. It starts with working forty hours a week and then going to school full time. I then have homework and a life to keep up with and there is always that need of sleep. From time to time, I feel that I do not have enough in me to continue and I would really like to quit school. But, it is something that I started and I need to finish and I keep everyday that I am that much closer to my goal. That is one way that I balance my stress and my emotional wellness.
