Emotions can either make or break people’s decisions, and most of the times, these decisions greatly affect one’s life. So, what happens when one is emotionally weak? Does being emotionally strong really that important? According to Joel Hooper, building emotional strength is a way to cope with emotional life experiences.
This particular ability allows people to see deeply through the emotion, thus accessing functional processes that are often implied. If you achieve this, you will be able to have mindfulness and resilience, which can be helpful when faced with struggles.
So, how do you spot an emotionally strong individual from those who aren’t? The next section below will give you 5 known traits of emotionally strong people. Who knows, you might even have some or all of these traits. That would make you an emotionally strong person. Isn’t that great?
Building Emotional Strenght
-
Emotionally strong people are less discouraged by setbacks.
In a normal setting, people think of these individuals as a very determined type of people. But why do you think they are able to bounce back from such setbacks? It is because they are the type of people that don’t get discouraged easily. They intend to persist and move forward, rather than thinking about the misfortune.
For instance, two students studied for the exam diligently but both failed. One accepted the result that he failed while the other one break into tears. Which of them do you think is emotionally strong?
The answer is none. Both are actually weak when it comes to handling the situation. You’d probably think that the one who accepted the result is emotionally strong, but you couldn’t be more wrong. What matters is actually their reaction thereafter.
Because building emotional strength doesn’t support setbacks and discouragements. It actually tends to find another way for you to move forward. You may have shed a bucket of tears after failing the exam, but if you chose to study harder and didn’t allow the failure to get to you, then you’ve already shown a trait of being emotionally strong.
And this leads us to our next trait.
-
The thought of giving up is not an option.
Giving up is an emotional person’s characteristic. Most people’s immediate reaction after failing is thinking that it wasn’t meant to be, and just stop trying at all. Emotionally strong people will perceive those failures as a stepping ground, a lesson learned to be better and do better next time. They know that success is just on the other side of the wall. The only thing they need to do is figure out how to break that wall.
-
They know when they are wrong but learn from the experience.
If you think that you need to be right all the time to be successful, then you are falling short in building emotional strength. Moreover, you forget how to become an emotionally strong person. This mentality is typically a sign of fear. Fear of finding yourself puzzled as you don’t want to welcome the possibility that you are wrong.
A person building emotional strength knows and accepts when they are wrong. They learn from their mistakes. And the most important thing is that they don’t intend to repeat the same mistakes again without even seeking and trying out solutions.
-
Building emotional strength allows emotional expression to others
Another trait of this type of individuals is the ability to express their emotions easily to others. The logic here is that they do not restrict nor deny their feelings for the sake of acting pleasant.
Others see this as being too aggressive and outspoken, but the truth is they respect and value other people’s feelings as much as their own. So, when they think other’s opinions and emotions matter, then their feelings matter too. What matters really is how the emotion is being expressed.
-
They are more adaptable to changes.
Being able to adapt to change is a very crucial trait when building emotional strength. A person can’t move on from a previous misfortune if he or she is afraid to change.
Let’s go back to the previous example earlier. If the student who once failed the exam, decided to retake. However, he exerted the same effort and did the same technique. Do you think the student passed this time?
Probably not. Unless the exam got easier. You see, an individual who is building emotional strength knows that change is inevitable and is a must to learn and bounce back from them. And that they need to accept and start to change themselves to do that.
Final Thoughts
In a nutshell, individuals who are emotionally strong have a better control of their emotions and know how to manage emotions and start building emotional strength. They sometimes react on impulse, but they know how to get up and make the most of the experience to their own advantage.
How many of the traits above do you have? Perhaps you have other traits to add on the list? Let us know by commenting below!