The What is Fitness Series?#Emotional Fitness!

Emotional health, much like mental health, can be difficult to work on as it requires intentional personal attention and the willingness to accept other perspectives without becoming aggressively defensive. Emotional health and mental health are interconnected as when treating or addressing one, the other is also treated or addressed.

In order to identify our own emotions, it can help to start with the six basic emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and surprise.(1) Additional emotions can include excitement, awe, joy, amusement and calmness. Of these, is there one or a few that we tend to gravitate towards? Is there one or more from which we would like to gravitate away? If we can identify this, we can better emotionally show up for ourselves and others by willingly working on our emotional set point.

For example, the most toxic emotion on this list is anger. Having an emotional set point of anger can have negative health consequences. Anger is linked to coronary heart disease and diabetes as well as increased aggression, alcohol use, and smoking.(2) Statistically 12% or one in ten people have issues with anger and statistically more men are likely to have anger issues.(2) When health and fitness are of priority, having an emotional set point of anger makes the health and fitness journey more difficult and a lot less enjoyable. It is certainly ok to be angry, it happens. It is an emotion and to have the ability to feel all of our emotions is what makes us human as well as necessary for our own growth.

Emotional fitness boils down to how smoothly we are able to transition from one emotion to the next without a loss of flow to our day or our situations. Can we transition in a safe and fluid manner for our health and for those around us? For example, image driving to work and upon entering the freeway, another driver fails to use their blinker only to begin a lane change and just before an accident occurs, you manage to use your horn to let them know “not now”! What kind of emotion arises? Some may get very angry, some others may stay calm and chose not to get angry, while others may go to disgust. For those who go to anger, the question is how long after the situation is over do you stay angry and how long do you allow it to become the focal emotion of your day? This is my interpretation of what emotional flexibility is or can be. Can you get upset, angry, or disgusted but also be able to transition from that one emotion to a new emotion without a disruption to the day.

Regarding my emotional health, I have been working on meditation and coming to terms with what I call my dark and light sides. I have begun to accept that the present moment will pass and a new time will come. Much like seasons, time changes and we will have to allow aspects of our lives to become a part of our past but being able to look forward to a new moment in time. Being able to do so has helped me better understand my own emotional fluidity. I have also been open to writing about my emotions and most importantly the emotional journey regarding grief and loss and my own sadness regarding the loss of my best friend, Peanut!

Please note, that when discussing emotional health or mental health, it would be best to work with a qualified mental health care practitioner who can help you work through your specific processes. What is contained herein, is my interpretation of my own emotions and what I have learned having worked with a qualified health care practitioner.

(1)https://www.verywellmind.com/an-overview-of-the-types-of-emotions-4163976

(2)https://www.greaterdallaslifeskills.com/statistics#:~:text=More%20than%20one%20in%20ten,trouble%20controlling%20their%20own%20anger.&text=More%20than%20one%20in%20four,how%20angry%20they%20sometimes%20feel.