I am taking a different approach to my Blog this month. I am going to run a series on emotional wellness. To live a healthy life, we need to be healthy not only physically, but also emotionally. Being emotionally healthy is all about our attitude, stress management, relationships, spirituality, and self-understanding.
I learned the hard way that being well emotionally plays a bigger role in my overall health than I thought. Early in my diagnosis of my Crohn’s disease, I figured just avoiding foods that irritated my system and taking my meds would be enough. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Through reading and talking to others, I quickly learned that if I exercised, ate right, got my sleep, and managed my stress, I felt better. And for quite a while, I thought I was doing pretty well. I was wrong.
Physically, I was fine. Emotionally, I was a wreck. I was in an unhealthy relationship. I internalized everything, worried incessantly, and felt overwhelmed most of the time. I would lie awake at night, get myself so worked up, that no matter how many clothes I put on, I couldn’t get warm. I walked around in a fog. My short-term memory was non-existent (at one time my boss said – “they are going to put on your grave, “I can’t remember””). It was bad. My physical health started to suffer.
That was 22 years ago. Twenty-two years ago, I hit the bottom. Twenty-two years ago, I became open to help and because I was ready, I was receptive to the people God put people in my life. Slowly, I started looking at my life differently. Slowly I started to make changes. I changed how I viewed the world. I was tired of being a victim. I was ready to make changes. I was ready to become emotionally well.
It was hard, and is still hard. I am a work in progress, but I have come a long way since then.
So, this series will include topics on the following – and probably more 🙂 :
- Positive attitude
- Gratitude
- Abundance mentality
- Law of attraction
- Seeking help
- Letting go
- Stress management
- Self- talk