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Emotional & Social Wellness

Emotional supportEmotional well-being includes an awareness, respect and acceptance for “self” that is rooted in optimism. This allows an individual to meet the demands of everyday life by the utilization of skills to effectively cope during life's ups and downs and to recover effectively from illness, change or misfortune.  Emotional well-being involves identifying, building upon and operating from your strengths rather than a focus on fixing problems or weaknesses – or otherwise masking them. 

Emotional health is not the absence of emotions; it is to understand the value of your emotions by accepting how you are feeling, why you feel that way, and responding in a manner that connects with your body, senses and intuition to guide you towards alignment with purpose.

Emotional health is enhanced by social well-being. Social well-being entails seeking positive, interdependent relationships by using healthy communication skills.  Social wellness is defined by your interconnectedness with others and understanding how your “self” - your actions - affect other people and your communities.

It is not uncommon to grapple with interconnectedness within our practices and our communities as we intrinsically feel we “must” be the bedrock for our clients, our patients, our families and our communities.  Many veterinarians, whether solo or part of large group practices, put themselves or feel placed on their own island professionally, often spilling over into the personal sector of our lives. 

Many veterinarians are told or feel they are “givers” or “doers” and chose this profession because it is their “passion” and “calling.”  However, many have never stopped to develop a broader sense of acceptance as to the “self” behind these labels.  For many, these labels cause conflict within our self when we cannot meet the demands of everyday life personally or professionally; when our “passion” doesn't align with purpose.

Emotional wellness allows us the power to realize, accept and express our feelings without constraint so that we will enjoy the expression of our emotions. These emotions will come from a place of strength and offer us resiliency so that we are capable of supportive and interdependent relationships with others, which leads to social wellness.

 

Tools for Emotional and Social Wellness

Articles from Equimanagement Magazine:

 

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