Many people find it difficult to open up about things happening to them, this can be due to low self-esteem, shyness, anxiety, or fear of judgment by people. Having great emotional intelligence (EQ) can help any individual navigate smoothly any mental health challenges they might face through life and its demands.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability of an individual to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in more positive ways to ease stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and settle a conflict. Most people find it easy and safe to bottle up their feelings for different major reasons, as simple and easy and less burdened it can make us feel, it’s never the best approach to our mental health. Different people have their unique reasons for bottling up their emotions, despite that; they all seem to stem from fear of vulnerability. With the fear of this, most people result to self-protective emotional measures by bottling up their emotions.
As an individual, not knowing how to open up to people can make you feel isolated and alone, but learning to work through it seamlessly can be a giant leap in the right direction to opening up. Certain people have a harder time socializing or opening up than others because they are constantly in fear of people’s judgment or they might not be as interested in social interaction as their peers. Nonetheless, letting your feelings/emotions known is very pivotal in achieving a great state of mental wellbeing.
Talking About Your Feelings
The great positive impact of talking about your feelings on mental health cannot be overstressed, but it is worthy to note that you don’t need to be an open book to everyone that you come across. Some of the people you might consider appropriate to know about how you feel don’t even need to know anything personal about you, and most people don’t need to know everything. Knowing this can help make vital decisions in sharing with others and also finding the ideal person to share with. One hidden fact on mental health is that everyone goes through tough times at some point in their lives, but it takes courage and finding the right avenue for most people to share their feelings. There is no “better time” or “right time” to let your feelings out, and talking about your feelings should be something that is triggered naturally and not something you are coerced into.
Not being able to open up to people can send the wrong impression about you, and having this kind of mindset can make you get paranoid over time and also make you think that everyone is judging you. The first step to talking about your feeling is for you to understand that sometimes if you’re afraid to open up because you think that people don’t like you or might judge you, it might be more in your head than in reality. This means that being scared to open up about your feelings can be due to some false self-image/self-perception that you have about yourself rather than what is an actual reality. Most people who believe that everyone else sees them negatively have the wrong perception of reality. Talking about your feelings can have a great impact on your overall health in different ways:
- Research has shown that talking about feelings lowers their intensity; it makes you feel less burdened. As human beings, we often need connection because we are social creatures, and we all need support in our lives. Saying something out loud to another person can offer a huge release and relief. You’re not designed to be battling everything out alone.
- It can help to normalize mental health care; talking about mental health doesn’t only help you as an individual, it also helps to improve our communities by creating an enabling environment and making it more acceptable and easy for those suffering from mental illnesses to seek help, learn to cope, and get on the road to recovery. In addition, mental health isn’t just about mental illnesses. It’s also about maintaining a positive state of well-being.
Being mentally well will enable you to realize your potential and help that of your community. Different dynamic ways to maintain positive mental health include exercising, getting adequate sleep, learning how to cope with life’s stresses, connecting with other people, and speaking with a mental health professional when the need arises.
NB: Personality differences are not to be confused in this regard, in most instances, being an introverted individual is mostly associated with people who do not communicate their feelings or people who are socially awkward (shy). Introverted people feel more comfortable focusing on their inner thoughts and ideas, rather than what’s happening externally. They enjoy spending time with just one or two people, rather than in large groups or crowds.
Thank you for reading.
