10 Characteristics of Mentally Healthy People
#5 — They can laugh at themselves and with others.
Mental health is more than just the absence of mental illness. It includes how you feel about yourself and how you adjust to life events.
Your mental health influences how you think, feel and behave in daily life.
It also affects your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, build relationships, and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships.
Being mentally or emotionally healthy is much more than being free of depression, anxiety, or other psychological issues. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics.
Here’s what truly mentally healthy people do — regardless of where they come from, or what they look like:
1. They feel good about themselves.
Because they accept who they are and not live their lives based on what people think or feel about them. They understand that self-compassion is so important for life and growth. What other people think doesn’t concern them.
2. They do not become overwhelmed by emotions, such as fear, anger, love, jealousy, guilt or anxiety.
Mentally healthy people understand that you can’t control how you feel, but you can control how you react to your feelings by focusing on your thoughts. They know wanting to control your feelings at all times is a lost battle no matter how hard you try.
However, you should be careful about what to do and say when you are feeling certain emotions. This is your responsibility.
3. They have lasting and satisfying personal relationships.
No matter how much time you devote to improving your mental and emotional health, you still need the company of others to feel and function at you best. Mentally healthy people know that humans are social creatures with emotional needs for relationships and positive connections to others.
They understand that we all need positive connections and interaction with others.
We’re not meant to survive, let along thrive, in isolation. Our social brains crave companionship — even when experience has made us shy and distrust of others.
4. They are comfortable with other people
They understand when you don’t feel comfortable in your own skin you will always feel anxious around other people and constantly worry about what they think, judging yourself and seeking approval.
Mentally healthy people are comfortable in their own skin, they don’t need to impress others, act different or trying to be someone else.
They are fully present when they talk to others, individually or in a group. They completely accept themselves and are comfortable with who they are.
5. They can laugh at themselves and with others
People who are mentally healthy don’t take themselves too seriously, they understand that laughing at your mistakes (and yourself) boosts your physical and psychological health.
They understand that people who can laugh at themselves tend to be more prone to “feeling good and worrying less.” People who worry less are less prone to chronic stress.
6. They have respect for themselves and for others even if there are differences.
Mentally healthy people know that they must have respect for themselves and others even when they have differences.
They understand that respect is important, meaning you accept somebody for who they are, even when they’re different from you or you don’t agree with them.
Respect builds feelings of trust, safety, and wellbeing.
8. They are able to accept life’s disappointments.
Disappointments are bound to happen, no matter how we try to avoid them or plan more efficiently.
Life is not perfect, so, we have to be willing to accept life’s imperfections rather than giving disappointment the power to negatively affect our lives in a permanent way. Mentally healthy people understand that disappointment happens to everyone, accept, learn from it and move on. There is no point dwelling about life’s disappointments.
9. They make their own decisions.
A mentally healthy person understands that they are ultimately responsible for their life.
They know every decision we make helps shapes our reality. Compounded over a lifetime, those decisions create our ultimate destiny. You cannot let everyone else decide for you.
Often, it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever. Learn to make your own decisions and live with the results.
10. They shape their environment whenever possible and adjust to it when necessary.
Mentally healthy people find that environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behaviour.
They believe in shaping your environment whenever possible or learn to adjust to it when necessary. If you want to maximise your odds of success, then you need to operate in an environment that accelerates your results rather than hinders them.
No one possesses all of the characteristics of good mental health all the time. But it’s important to practice being mentally healthy every day.
People who are mentally healthy can manage stress better, which means they are less like to develop mental illnesses like depression and anxiety. Practice at least two or more of these characteristics and you’ll see a vast improvement in your mental and emotional health and wellbeing.
