National Day of Encouragement

Speaker: Christine E. Chew, Ph.D.

Christine E. Chew, Ph.D.: When I think of emotional well-being, I also think of happiness because well-being and happiness, whether it be physical well-being, whether it be emotional well-being, they all go together and they are actually part and parcel of the same thing and if not actually of the same definition. So when I think of those things, I think of some research that was done that asked who are the happiest people on earth? And this research was done worldwide and the findings might surprise you a little bit. Um. They actually found that people in Denmark are the happiest people on earth. And that's surprising because Denmark is cold, it's dark, it has harsh winters, it's a small country, but it turns out environmental factors don't seem to be that big of a player when it comes to well-being and happiness. What does seem to be a big factor is relationships, supportive, healthy, positive relationships. And that can be romantic. It can be, you know, friendship relationships, it can be um you know, familial relationships, but it has to healthy functioning people who have a sense of well-being, have a sense of happiness, all have positive social relationships, positive social and healthy relationships. And what that might look like is, um, people who are there for you, who listen to you, who are um, available for you. Not fair-weather friends who just come and go as they need something to tax your resources to solve a problem or, um, people who, you know, show up for the good stuff but then they aren't there for the bad stuff. Um, you know, positive, healthy relationships, you can depend on them, they're present, they're emotionally engaged. There's an equality to the relationship or friendship in a way that is, um you know, conducive to both parties growing and, and uh sort of, you know, being, uh you know, being engaged, right? So, all those things are critically important to emotional well-being. The other thing that's important to remember is that families aren't always healthy relationships and that we can't just automatically decide that because we're family, we have, these are healthy relationships for us. In fact, they can be some of the, the most unhealthy relationships depending on what's going on. But it is important that you make sure to have healthy relationships and that the things that I listed, the examples I listed are present in these relationships because that really is powerful when it comes to emotional well-being.