Emotional Fitness

I have to confess – I was at a bit of a loss this week. It’s been kind of a strange few days. I’ve had some waves of depression, some very high points, and some stress.

So, in the throes of writer’s block, I turned to my friends to help me decide a blog post topic. They suggested some great things, some of which will probably come up later, including one on the necessity of lightheartedness in relationships. I was struggling to focus (more than usual, which is saying something) and figured some research would help. A few key strokes and clicks later, and I was browsing a Psychology Today article. (Psychology Today is like the ocean for me – all research rivers lead to P.T. eventually, you just have to keep paddling.)

The article itself was not super helpful (I admit I scrolled down it faster than an Olympic Luger rounds the turns) but just as I was about to click away I noticed the author’s byline, describing his preferred topic: Emotional Fitness.

Isn’t that a fantastic descriptor?!

For me, it immediately brings up images of someone who looks like Dwayne Johnson doing bicep curls, but instead of dumbbells he’s lifting the concept of anger in one hand and fear in the other. (Why those two in particular? I’d really rather not discuss it because this is not about me right now thanks.) How amazing would it be to actually exercise your emotional health? Like, you have a rough day, and you walk into a gym and instead of “working through your anger by lifting weights” you actually lift your anger and your emotional health improves. Wouldn’t that be great!?

I feel fairly confident that the author of that article didn’t have this vision in mind when he put the term in his byline, but honestly I don’t care. I love the idea of being able to get better at love by exercising it. Literally. I want to make joy and happiness regular workout routines.

Instead, I have to practice them as concepts. Gratitude, anger, anxiety, they all live as concepts that flood physically into my body from the chemicals in my brain. I’d like to be able to tangibly experience them and get better at experiencing them. But I cannot.

So, instead, I will continue to work through them conceptually. But I need some suggestions: what emotional fitness routines do you practice?

For instance, do you list things you’re grateful for? Do you breathe through your anger? Do you describe your fears in detail? How do you become emotionally fit? I want to know.