Emotional stability is a crucial factor to living your life with peace, ease and a genuine feeling of content. Without it, there is a risk of falling in a deep hole of suppressed emotions, unhappiness with yourself and constant regret.
Good thing is, you can choose to be on the right path to emotional health. It’s all about the choices you make in life that directly impact the quality of the life you choose to live. You can change your thought process, make better everyday decisions, and enhance your happiness immeasurably.
What does emotional stability even mean? It means choosing to do things that directly affect and contribute to your peace and happiness. It means not bothering yourself with things that are out of your control, and being able to walk away from things that bring nothing positive to you or your life. It means developing habits that bring serenity and a sense of calmness to your life and always having peace of mind in your everyday interactions.
Now you’re probably wondering how to get to that place? I know it sounds too good to be true, but it’s really up to each individual to live a life of emotional stability. It’s not hard. All you need to do is implement these 5 habits that exemplify emotionally stable people in your everyday life, and sooner rather than later, the quality of your life will be on its way up!
Here’s what to do to achieve emotional stability and live the life you’ve always wanted:
1. Learn to say NO
It’s as simple as that. Emotionally stable people are capable of saying ‘No’ without feeling the need to justify themselves or making promises they know they won’t keep. They can say no to things that they don’t feel comfortable with or don’t have time for.
Unstable people often feel pressure to agree to do things they don’t want to do in order to please the people they don’t actually like, while confident people know how and when to say, ‘No’ because they simply don’t have time or energy for everything.
There are only so many hours in a day, and stable people choose to spend them wisely. Surrounding themselves with family and friends and distancing themselves from anyone toxic that doesn’t contribute to their happiness is a priority to them.
These calm and collected people that are at the same time confident and bold have no problem refusing things that are not appealing to them, and they never let it affect their mood or inner happiness.
It takes confidence to say, ‘No’. It is natural that we all want to please people around us, our family, friends, bosses, and kids. But overextending yourself and spreading yourself too thin makes you miserable, instills a sense of inadequacy in yourself and takes time away from things that actually deserve your attention.
Challenge yourself and make it a point to say ‘No’ to someone today. It doesn’t have to be anything serious. But next time somebody asks you for something, stop and think for a second. Does this bring you any positivity or joy? Does it take away from your precious time with a loved one? Is it something you even want to do?
When the answer to at least two of those is ‘No’, you know what to say. And you’ll see how freeing it is going to feel. You will understand that at that particular moment it was the right thing to say, and you do not need to justify yourself. You’re doing this for your well-being and that is more than enough reason.
2. Embrace your imperfections
Nobody ever said emotionally stable people were perfect. They just know how to live with their flaws without feeling bad about themselves. They know that happiness comes from within, and if they are okay with themselves, nobody can tell them otherwise.
There is no need to try to be perfect, and emotionally stable people know it. There is so much to be learned every day and so much knowledge to soak in, and they are always open to it. They don’t limit themselves because they know they are never done growing and learning.
They will happily tell you about their flaws, as they are not ashamed of themselves. They know that those tiny imperfections make them who they are, and they have embraced them fully.
They have learned to accept themselves exactly the way they are, and their strength and power come from that inner sense of self-confidence and peace.
Always try to take something positive from every unfortunate situation. If anything, it can always teach you something, and you’re never too old to learn from your mistakes. There is a blessing in every lesson if you look closely enough.
3. Learn to listen without prejudice
Emotionally stable people are really good listeners because their ability to stay calm in every situation doesn’t require them to talk that much. They don’t feel the need to fill the air with unnecessary words just for the sake of responding.
They know when to listen, and when to talk. And they are much better at listening. They are very confident and sure of themselves when they have something to say, therefore they don’t feel the need to convince anyone of their words.
Who is important will understand, and those who aren’t, don’t really matter to them.
What makes them even more unique is their ability to take criticism with grace and acceptance. They won’t sulk like children if they hear something that isn’t to their liking, and any critical feedback they will be more than happy to hear.
They always want to hear your opinion, and even if they don’t agree with it, they will respect it, with no resentment and grudges. And that is the healthy way to do it.
They listen to understand, not to reply. And there is a huge difference in only listening in order to say your piece. Think about it. When you master this, your inner happiness will sky-rocket.
4. Be selective of who you surround yourself with
Emotionally stable people know that the company they keep around themselves will rub off on them in one way or another. If you are around negative people who only know how to complain and nag, that will inevitably rub off on you at some point, whether you want it or not.
Therefore, keeping your inner circle small, positive and encouraging is one step closer to getting you to their level of confidence.
Negative energy can be detrimental to your emotional health. It will slowly suffocate you, burden you, and you will end up with so many suppressed emotions that it will eventually result in you blowing up at someone for no apparent reason.
Keep only people who impact your life in a positive manner around you, anything else can only deteriorate your quality of life and your thoughts.
If you have anyone in your life who makes you miserable by being around you, it may be time to cut them out of your life. If they don’t bring anything positive to the table, they don’t deserve a seat at it. Some bridges simply need to be burned.
5. Do not conform
Emotionally stable people don’t care if they don’t fit in with every mainstream trend. They don’t care that everybody is jumping on bandwagons simply because everybody else is doing it.
They are too self-confident to follow other people and their new trends and ideas. They are very comfortable in their own skin, and they don’t mind doing things their own way, even if it means being the only one doing it in that manner.
They don’t have a problem with disagreeing with whomever. Be that their family, friends, colleagues or someone else. If they don’t like something, they won’t do it, and they won’t care what you think of it. It’s their life, and nobody else’s.
The more secure you become in yourself, the less you will need the approval of others. It will bring you a sense of independence and power and you will genuinely stop caring what anyone says. If you don’t like it, you won’t feel pressured to do it,and it will feel damn good.
The next time you see people jumping on a bandwagon, regardless of what it is, ask yourself if you actually like it and want to do it. If you don’t, then simply don’t do it. Go do your own thing. Follow your own path. It will bring you inner peace and happiness, guaranteed.
The more you listen to yourself and your own head, the less you will be preoccupied with what anyone else thinks of it. And those who love you will respect you for it. Those who don’t, aren’t people who deserve to be in your life.
Do things your way, be your own best friend! Nobody can tell you how to live your life and what to think, you are the only one who knows yourself from A-Z.
Embrace every part of you, and do what makes you joyful! And soon, there won’t be anyone who will be able to take that away from you. You’ll be too happy to care!