Emotional Support, A Wonderful Pain Shield
Sometimes we need to feel enveloped, sheltered, with the feeling that nothing can happen to us. Maybe a hug, a smile, a thought or a few words would suffice… Because at the end of the day what we need is emotional support, which is to say a security mechanism that protects us when circumstances threaten us or are not what we want.
This support can come from within, but it can also come from someone we hold in high regard. Sometimes all it takes is having someone to ease our anxiety or, in some cases, the burden we carry on our backs.
Let’s take a look at what types of emotional support are out there and how they benefit us. Go further.
Emotional support: what is it?
Emotional support helps us feel better, whether it is when we are afraid or when we are overwhelmed. It’s like that scaffolding that we need to get out of tough situations. These people who lead us, accompany us and love us. Those who don’t hesitate to take us by the hand when gray threatens to repaint our lives.
However, this is not a way to escape or distribute responsibilities, but rather a way to face problems with love. In other words, with this support we can be reborn, learn from the situation and find ourselves.
When we are young, it is our parents, loved ones or caregivers who provide us with emotional support. And as we grow older, we learn to find it in other people or even in certain activities or in nature.
Why is this so important?
Emotional support is essential because if we don’t have it, we might stop finding meaning in our life, forming toxic relationships, or feeling empty.
For example, if a child does not receive the emotional care they need, they will develop problems in various areas, both short and long term and on a physical and emotional level. Therefore, emotional support is an important factor in early childhood. It helps us to develop and grow healthily, especially emotionally.
Indeed, according to researcher Maritza Angélica Carvajal Álvarez, both the care of children and the emotional support provided to them contribute to the development of a more secure, responsible and committed personality.
Even social support can be crucial for physical development. This is in any case what the Spanish researchers Pacora, Capcha, Esquivel, Ayala, Ingar, & Huiza demonstrate.
According to their study, the lack of emotional or social support has negative repercussions on maternal and perinatal health. Therefore, the emotional support our mother relied on could affect our quality of life.
How to find emotional support?
Although the first emotional support is provided by our parents and those who care for us, that does not mean that it is and should be the only one. In fact, there are other ways to get emotional support. Some of them are listed below:
- Communicate with others. If we forge healthy relationships, we can rely on others when we need them and create emotional supportive bonds.
- Connect with ourselves. Knowing yourself is the bridge to good emotional management.
- Get physical exercise. When we exercise, we release endorphins, a group of hormones that help us feel happier.
- Seek professional help. Psychologists and psychiatrists are very helpful when it comes to reducing pain; experts in the emotional, behavioral and cognitive world, they can guide us in emotional management.
Other types of activities can also serve as emotional support. For example, reading a book or and art in general can be the ideal vehicles to help us transform our anxieties.
The benefits of this wonderful pain shield
When we are feeling exhausted, our strengths weakening, and we are unable to see almost any glimmer of light around us, this is the time when we need our emotional support the most. Thanks to him, we can:
- Increase our confidence
- Decrease the risk of pain
- Improve links with ourselves, with others and with nature
- Foster the processes of organizing experiences
- Release tension
- Have greater motivation
- Enjoy a greater sense of security
Although at first emotional support is not our responsibility, as we grow older we must seek it. It’s amazing to have so many ways to find it and know all the benefits it offers.
When this emotional support exists in our life, we can count on a place or a person to find relief, to unload whatever we carry on our shoulders. An opportunity to accept what is happening to us, to change our perspective and to start transforming ourselves.
Our thoughts Remember that life is the blink of an eye. Do not waste it in fantasies or torments which in the end will only leave you nostalgic …
