Have you ever considered whether your mental health depends on the people (like your neighbour) around you or vice versa?
Mental health issues get overlooked as they differ from physical health issues. However, many people do not know or understand that mental health has an overall ripple effect.
What is the ripple effect?
The ripple effect is when the result of an action or event continues and spreads. For example, when you throw a pebble into the water, it causes those ripples.
Similarly, your words, feelings, and actions impact people around you, who impact those around them, and the cycle continues.
You might have heard, “You must be in tune with yourself to be mindful of others.”
Let us look at how your actions can impact others and how you can stay aware of how you affect others.
How Your Action Impacts People Around You
Many elements can be the source of someone’s mental health getting impacted. With that said, your actions and what you say affect your health and the health of those around you.
This situation has a good and another side.
Let us look at the good side. You can positively impact the lives of people around you, especially those struggling with mental health issues. At times people spend nearly all their life with a mental health issue without knowing or getting it diagnosed.
Why? It is because the person suffering from it does not understand that there is a problem with what they are experiencing as no one speaks with them, and often they come from households that think mental health issues are not a problem.
However, you can speak up for people around you, provide facts, and positively push your loved ones to speak with a specialist and assist them throughout their health journey.
The other side is not exactly the wrong side; it’s just a mindful side. That means you have to be extremely cautious with your words and actions. Think of a scenario where a sales clerk was rude to you. How did you feel? It was probably angry and frustrating. However, if the same clerk treated you positively and happily, you would have left feeling happy, inspired, and even motivated.
It is a similar case with the people you know and strangers. Your actions, attitude, and what you say can significantly impact them. It can be even more profound if it is someone close to you.
You never know what people are going through in their work or personal life. So, why not stay aware to ensure you do not pile up more on their life negatively?
Tips on Staying Aware of How You Impact Others
We understand how overwhelming it can be to know you can profoundly impact someone else’s health. However, there are a few quick tips to help you help yourself, and others stay in a better state of mind and not get overwhelmed.
1. Think About Yourself First
The best way to understand how someone’s behavior affects you is by understanding what you do or how you deal with your emotions at first.
Why? Because the ones impacted the most by your emotions are you and how you feel, behave, and see things.
Therefore, think about yourself and ask yourself a few questions like:
- How or what am I feeling?
- Why do I have these feelings/Why do I feel this way?
- How should I respond (react) to the feelings I am having?
- Am I projecting it to others?
- How am I projecting it on others?
2. Always Keep In Mind The Impact You Can Have
Once you have read this article, think about how your good and bad actions, emotions, and behavior can impact the morale of the people around you. It would be best if you focused on using your power to contribute to overall positive energy whenever you can.
According to research, optimistic people have better physical and mental health, more effectively face challenges, and are happier and more confident overall. Moreover, optimists have a higher life quality than pessimists. You can have a positive impact when remembering how you can affect others’ mental health.
3. Concentrate on Small Changes
It would be best to focus on small changes when you need to change your habit or action because it can impact your mental health and other people. The fact is, changing your habit is not easy. However, if you keep it simple and focus on yourself, you have a better chance of gaining success.
4. Recognize Your Triggers
Have you identified that your moods of action have been negative? If you have, you need to figure out why you are beginning to have such emotions and behaviours. After you understand the main root of your stress, negative mood, or action, you can create a plan to help you mitigate it. It can also mean seeking a professional to help you reach your root cause.
5. Talk To Yourself
For many, this tip might sound uncertain. But you most likely already talk to yourself at times quietly. Talking with yourself means you become more conscious about the conversations you are having with yourself and listen carefully to your internal monologue.
Please do not focus on harmful elements like jealousy, anger, or stress, why these things happen to me, etc. Please focus on the positive things about your daily life and see how it affects your overall mood, day, and energy.
Nurturing Actions Equals to Healthier Relationships
The overall fact is no matter what your thoughts, emotions, and actions are, they can be highly contagious. The things you do, say, and activities can affect someone else’s mood, life, and mental health. Why? Mainly because relationships depend on one’s actions, emotions, and behavior as it has a lasting and profound effect on the life of others.
Research
According to research, when a significant other has depression, it usually causes the other important partner to face depression.
It is the same for parents, children, roommates, etc. Therefore, nurture yourself and the people around you, as it will nurture your relationships, support the lives of others and help them obtain a healthier life.
