The Dark Ink

There is only one person in the entire world,
You need to compete with and prove wrong,
The little voice inside your head,
That constantly feeds your fear,
That bickers about how incompetent you are!
Compete with the voice, with your fear, your ill-belief,
Stand against it, Prove it wrong.
Bring yourself home;
– Shruti Bevara

What Are Emotions??

The invisible miracle this universe gifts is to ‘feel’ everything it offers. Arguably the first thing we experience is a mix of emotions ranging from discomfort to the spark of thrill while developing all the senses. While emotions play a critical role in shaping our entire being/existence, they don’t receive the attention they deserve. In a world where physical health and external achievements are prioritized, emotional well-being takes the backseat without realizing that emotional and physical health are deeply intertwined and require a good balance between them. Emotions are our roots, influencing our thoughts, actions, choices, and ability to handle a stressful situation, if one comes.

Emotional health is a vast ocean and we are just dipping our feet in it with this article. To understand emotional health one needs to expand their horizons from “Emotions are feeling happy, sad, grief or thrill, excitement etc” to –

1. Developing self-awareness,
2. Managing their emotions effectively,
3. Finding coping mechanisms,
4. Building a healthy relationship with oneself,
5. Understanding their emotional lack,
6. Filling the gaps by self-analyzing,
7. To treat themselves with the same kindness they would to others,
8. Most importantly, to ask and seek help, when they feel like it.
Oh, there’s so much more to it, like I said, we are just dipping our feet into the ocean of emotions.

There are (and will be) days when you feel hollow, just like this image; When you look at it for more than 10 seconds it puts you in some kind of trance doesn’t it? Your thoughts are just like the trees, surrounding your focal point, distracting you from the task. The tree branches act as the ‘chain of thoughts’ that leads to cooking imaginary scenarios which we often call “Overthinking“.
A gush of wind in this direction and the main task is served to the gods above!

To keep the overwhelming emotions at bay, or cope with them, it takes one to ‘conquer‘ themselves.
Now you must be thinking, “Conquer? I can barely control them! Sure these are my emotions but I don’t own them, they own me!”

To control them, one must know them, analyze their patterns, and understand where they come from and what they convey. Here is where my understanding comes in, where I present you –

10 things You Need to Know About Your Emotional Health

1. Observe and Understand:
Emotions have a habit of showing themselves in the form of patterns, every emotion has some trigger point. Look for that trigger point, especially when the emotion is Anger. Emotions are the way your brain communicates with you. Observe and decode those signals. Understand where your instincts and brain differ, and fill the gap as near to reality as possible.

2. Healthy Relationship:
Hold Up! Before you go running over to people to make healthy relationships, ask yourself, “Do you have a Healthy Relationship with Yourself?” Having a healthy relationship with oneself in simple terms is “Filling your cup before you pour into others’.” You cannot pour from an empty cup! you cannot help others in need if you, yourself find difficulty in facing your fears.

3. Emotional Regulation:
Figure out ways to deal with stress, anger, pain, grief, and all other complex emotions, before they take over you. “Pain inspires a lot of unhealthy decisions.” A calm mind can see things through, calculate the words before speaking, and take its time to grieve properly before letting it go. Meditation, connecting with nature, and sitting in complete silence help bring out the calm mind.

4. Balanced Lifestyle:
Having a balance between physical and emotional health is what contributes to a zen life. Knowing the impacts of sleep, thoughts, environment, and the kind of people you surround yourself with, brings such great clarity about yourself and the changes you need to make to achieve that balanced state.

5. Coping Mechanisms:
Yes, ‘mechanisms’ because one is never enough, don’t believe me if I say one is enough. Every emotion needs to be controlled before it controls you, one way to control it is to have some kind of coping mechanism. For example, if your thoughts are running a marathon at 2 am in the night try having some sort of calming sounds, rain and ocean waves work the best, if you ask me. Anxiety hits you? Sleep! Or run until all you can focus on is your breathing or watch a comedy clip.
The basic idea is to have distraction ready up your sleeve, every time your emotions get out of hand.

6. Self-awareness:
No one should know you better than yourself! No one! Do a PhD in your emotions if it needs to be! But know yourself inside out. Understand your pattern of reactions to someone/situation.
Most importantly know the extent of your emotions! Your capability, your control; How far can you endure? How far can you take it? The best way to understand oneself is to spend more time alone, in silence.

7. Emotional Outlet:
Express your emotions if and when needed. Suppression of emotions causes an emotional outburst which further causes damage, both emotional and physical. Talk to a friend, if you are lucky enough to have an unbiased one. Or if you are a private person, have a journal and call it “Liberation Notes” your way of seeking freedom from daunting thoughts. Find ways to unburden yourself. Do not carry the emotional baggage.

8. Find a purpose:
Find yourself something that grabs your interest, turn it into passion, and immerse yourself in the workings of it. You might already have it, something you call a Hobby. Attach yourself to the purpose and discover a new version of yourself. Your purpose helps you evolve, grow, and expand in ways you could imagine now.

9. Continuity:
Emotional health/well-being demands continuity, it is not a one-day or one-month challenge process, where you fully focus on it for a month and boom! your emotional health is set. You work on it until the day you no longer exist on Earth. You balance it, so that you can function like a normal person. Dedicate the same time you would to your physical health.

10. Seek Help:
The most important one, seek help whenever necessary. With everything going around us, sometimes our care for emotional health comes short. For times like these seek professional help, and no there is no shame in safekeeping our mental health. Always have someone know about the whirlwind of emotions you feel because they can be challenging, stubborn, and uncontrollable. Having someone to keep a check on you is a sign of comfort and safety. It is a sign of Strength.

There we go! My small attempt (more like a contribution) to bring some awareness about “Emotional Health”. Taking care of ourselves is never selfish, nothing feminine about sharing our emotional challenges with loved ones. Sharing displays strength and a desire to fix what seems to be out of balance. Applaud your mind and body for taking care of you for this long, keep it in shape so that it can keep you in shape prolonging your existence on Earth, to create endless miracles.

Hope you like this blog, share your thoughts, and stories down below.
P.S. I am a good listener and a great empath and I think you may find a friend in me, go ahead and try emailing me with your story (experience).

Until next time, with a new blog!
Stay True! Stay Positive! Stay You!
Shruti