Understanding your emotions is another aspect of emotional health. In other words, how are you feeling about the present situation; how are you feeling about your age; how are you feeling about what you are reading here? Understanding your own feelings your own emotions and accepting them for what they are while remaining positive is key to healthy emotions.

• Acknowledge your emotions. It is healthy to express emotion.
• Accept your emotions as the thermometer to how you feel in a particular situation or relationship.
• Strive to remain as positive as possible.

One of the overpowering emotions for many people of all ages during this COVID-19 pandemic is fear. – Fear of the unseen virus and fear of what might happen to you personally or to a loved one. Fear eats away at you until you deal with it directly.

• Sign up for a free copy of “7 Ways to Live Your Life to the Fullest Right Now” on AgeEsteem.com. Chapter 2 teaches you to Tame Your Fears.
• Try putting aside a “worry time” each day. Make this a time when you face your fears and make the rest of the day worry free knowing you will worry at the designated time.
• Journal about your fears. Put your fears down in writing and leave them there.
• Do you have a friend you can speak to about your fears? Sharing your fears can take some of the sting out of them.

I believe we actually are at an advantage as the elders of the world, because we have lived through so much more than the younger generations. We are able to place things into perspective. We have seen enough to know that this too shall pass.

Age esteem is a boost to Emotional Health.

Bonnie Fatio

Fear knows no age limit. When we are fearful the fear fills our thoughts. It affects us physically as well as emotionally.

On a recent flight to Asia I was sitting next to a middle-aged man who was gripping the arm rests so tightly that every vein in his hands were bulging as we taxied on the runway. When I asked him if it was his first flight he replied, “Oh no. I just panic at takeoff. Then the flight will be fine.”

Since takeoff is my favorite moment, I shared with him what I love about takeoff. I explained my joy of looking down the full runway as the plane turns onto it, knowing that it is the pathway to where I am going. He joined me in looking out the window at just the right moment to see what I meant. The runway is a never-ending path to the sky. Then we concentrated on the sheer joy of being pressed back into our seats as the engines thrust the plane forward and together we counted the seconds until we were airborne. By then my flight mate’s hands were relaxed and he was speaking with me easily.

Part of dominating fear is to focus your thoughts elsewhere. You cannot be preoccupied with your fear and at the same time focus your thoughts on something else. It is simply not possible. Try it next time that you have an irrational fear. Talk to yourself about something else, something interesting and positive, or strike up a conversation with someone. Your fear will lessen and even disappear.

Bonnie Fatio