What in the E.F. is going on here.

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We’re all urged to be physically fit. Of course it’s not all hoopla; being physically fit can get you anything from a date, a job, to the chance to be able to play with your grandkids. So yeah, being physically fit is important. But, we are more than a bunch of bones and muscles, which may explain why perfectly ‘normal’ looking people make destructive and painful choices. 

Emotional Intelligence has been around for a while so most of us get that we need to possess some measure of that to succeed in the corporate world . 

Emotional Fitness, however is an entirely different story and is a hot topic now. My take on it is that emotional fitness is the degree to which an individual deals with situations, recover or become stronger in spite of the experience. The ability to not be disfigured by all the lemons that are thrown at you in life, to deal with not-so-fab experiences in a postive way, and to have the inner strength to be who you want to be, regardless of who is standing next to you, or what your ‘friends’ may think.

This state of having a strong sense of self enables an individual to do a number of things, including but not limited to:

- Resolve conflict faster
- Find solutions easier
- Live at peace with yourself and those around you
- Fulfill your dreams
- Have healthy lasting relationships

Thus having less run ins with:

- Anger
- Self-condemnation
- Regret and
- Resentment.

and less instances of people messing with his/her head. I wouldn’t doubt that somewhere in the melee the individual’s quality of life is increased.

Sounds like a dream. Where do I sign up? 

Clearly anything this fantastic doesn’t come easy. You can’t pop a pill or insert some silicone somewhere and then remove some fat elsewhere and get it. It ain’t that easy. 

In the same manner we follow to become physically fit, yes we do need to practice those specific exercises that develop the strong sense of self muscles, and don’t do the endless reps of those exercises that make us feel like crap.

It’s a minute-by-minute thing until you’ve found your personal groove. Depending on how far away from yourself you are, this can take anywhere from months to years I’d imagine. Either way my guess would be that it would have to begin with you REMOVING yourself from everything that you presently know, and reintroducing things one by one and carefully documenting your inner reactions and thoughts to said stimuli.

Sure you can get a life coach or something fancy like that, or if you are emotionally ‘well’ enough to think without the assistance of meds, you can just make the decision to know you better, starting now. Either way, outside help or DIY, the key is that the desire to change must come from within or forget it. 

It can start with daily affirmations yes, but it surely that can’t be the be all and end all. Doesn’t make sense to wake up and recite a fantastic paragraph in the mirror and then hop straight into some self destructive activity or the other that leaves you insanely depressed.  

We are too much of a complex species for us to just talk ourself out of destructive behaviour or thoughts; we actually have to do, remove, add or implement something for example. Something verb-ish, that involves unapologetic, conscious and consistent action on our path over time, however long it takes for us to get it right and for it to become a habit, and then effort to maintain what we know to ourselves to be true. 

But, after all that who are we really fooling. This sounds like a hell of a lot of work doesn’t it. Besides, noone wants to be unique anymore. Everyone wants to be the same cookie cutter, mainstream bore. *Yawn*

Fantastic. What fun.

Perhaps if we were able to add ourselves to Facebook, or BBM we may be able to spend some time with ourselves. We might not necessarily get down the the nitty gritty of why we are who we are and why we should LIKE it, but at the very least we will get a message from time to time that lets us know that we exist.

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b FiercelyFabulous

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