Fit in my head, isn’t fit in reality. In the last few years I’ve learned this lesson for physical health, and now I’m learning it for emotional health.
In physical health, I used to be 230 pounds and refused to diet. in “my head” I thought I was healthy because I could run a fast 5 miles. BUT in reality, even though I had the building blocks of good physical health, I was physically unhealthy. Later, I realized dieting was critical to my physical health. It took a while, but I learned to diet sustainably, and now I’m 160 lbs. I still run the same 5 miles, BUT now I diet as well, so now i not only look healthy, but am healthy.
The same type of situation exists in my emotional health.
In emotional health, I have solid self-awareness, and an ability to read others, but I refused to empathize, or be accepting. in “my head” I thought I was emotionally healthy because I could read people’s motivations, including my own. BUT in reality, even though I have the building blocks of good emotional health, I’m still emotionally unhealthy. Recently, I realized empathy, and being accepting is critical to my emotional health. It’ll take a while, but learning to empathize and be accepting sustainably, will be the ticket to my emotional health. I’m still able to see motivation clearly, but now I’m learning empathy and acceptance, so soon I’ll not only look emotionally healthy, I’ll actually be emotionally healthy.