Individuals are taught to take care of their physical needs from a very young age. Children often understand that they need to wash their hands, brush their teeth and cover a wound to remain in good health. However, monitoring and caring for emotional/psychological injuries is something that is rarely taught, and these types of injuries are often more prevalent than physical ones. Examples of prevalent psychological injuries are: failure, loneliness, social disconnect and rejection.
If untreated, these can all lead to clinical depression and anxiety.
Failure is inevitable, part of the human journey and leads to growth. We all have different reactions to failure, and it is often why people function below their given potential. Our mind is difficult to change once it becomes convinced of negative thoughts such as, “I’m not good enough.”
Rejection is also extremely painful and often causes us to examine our shortcomings and engage in negative self-talk.
Our feelings are not as trustworthy as our mind would have us think.
When we encounter these psychological injuries, it is important that we care for them with compassion and take action against them. We need to protect our self esteem and combat our own negative thought process.
We can combat these thoughts by practicing positive self-care.
Self-care is any activity that a person engages in to improve our physical, mental and emotional well-being.
Establishing boundaries is an important factor in self-care. Often, we have a variety of roles that we fill; family, friendship, and employee or employer. How to say “no” is an important skill to master and apply.
Stop ruminating. Ruminating is continually replaying a scene/conversation in your head and overanalyzing it. This is an easy habit to establish and a difficulty one to stop. When you notice yourself ruminating, engage in a short 5 minutes of distraction to assist in breaking the rumination cycle.
Actively plan a positive self-care routine. Set aside time for yourself and engage in activities that you like to do.
Take care of your basic needs. Get enough sleep, eat nutritiously, drink water, and exercise.
Practice relaxation techniques, meditation and mindfulness.
Make sure you are planning something pleasurable to do each day and look for opportunities to laugh more.
If we focus on properly maintaining our emotional well-being, we can build emotional resilience. This can vastly improve our quality of life. When we become happier and fulfilled, we can project positivity to our family, friends and colleagues.
