“Live in peace and harmony”
-Southeast Traditional Tribal Value
Keeping our emotional health well means being aware of our feelings and how we react to different situations. There are healthy ways to respond and unhealthy ways. What this means is that our emotions are healthy themselves, but how we choose to react may not be. For example, anger is a healthy emotion, but reacting with violence to a situation that made you angry is unhealthy. Examples of healthy reactions to your anger are playing basketball, go to the batting cages, or talking with a friend.
Poor emotional health can have an impact on our body as well. Some examples of physical effects are aches and pains in muscles from stress, headaches, and feeling tired all the time. Just like our bodies, our emotional health can be unwell without having a major illness, like depression. Also, just like physical activity, there are activities and ways of living that can keep our minds healthy. Taking care of our emotional health is part of enjoying life to the fullest.
