Often underrated, one of the most key contributors and cornerstones to a well-balanced, healthy and sustainable mental health is a sizeable dose of constant emotional validation and reassurance.
Primarily, sources of this kind of validation are in the insides of our homes; our immediate family are normally tasked with ensuring our self-esteem is nurtured, our confidence is built and our strengths are highlighted from a young age as the basis for our growth moving forwards.
As by design, our birth means we are thrust into a ‘social pool’ where competition for status, achievements and generally ‘standing out’ reign. Therefore, from an early age, we find ourselves having to rely on our own internal psycho-emotional resources, as a way of navigating through the world.
The difference between emotionally assured and validated individuals and those that lack in that department may not be quite stark at first glance, however, it does begin to manifest the more you interact with that person. Normally, some may lack in confidence (generally), as well as the confidence to make decisions.
They may also show deficits in their self-esteem, without any knowledge of their own strengths and weaknesses. A family (friends and relatives included) that encourages, applauds and recognises is likely to raise a child who believes in themselves a bit more than one who was raised in a hostile, very cold environment, for instance.
A household that lacks warm reassurance is likely to produce (perhaps) inexpressive individuals whose psycho-emotional being may be stunted by the negative environments’ effect on them.
For the purposes of context, emotional validation and assurance have a widespread impact on all spheres of life; even in relationships whereby your spouse either builds or contributes destructively to your mental health, via how they treat you emotionally within the bounds the relationship.
Particularly, this topic is especially relevant in the context of raising the next generation. As often validated by the great field of Psychology, the most important years of our lives are the earliest; therefore, it is important that we do not neglect our duties of being ‘soundboards’ for our children in terms of listening to them and guiding their emotional paths by strengthening the positives in their characters, while weakening whichever seem like a negative. With times moving, it means our parenting styles also have to morph to fit in with the times, which means, our relationships with our children have to be more transparent and fluid in order to make it easier for the emotional relationship to develop in the right way.
Therefore, it is paramount that we consider this as we interact with each other, especially in our homes. It is our natural duty to provide that necessary warmth of emotional validation to our brothers, sisters and any other kin, as a necessary tool that that goes a long way and one that they may use to propel themselves to great heights in society. Send comments to runsford0505@gmail.com
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