Psychological Well-being Is Not Just Up To You
The philosopher Albert Schweitzer said that being in good health is not enough to be well, but that it is also a frame of mind. This idea in itself is logical and relevant. However, most of the time, psychological well-being does not depend solely on our attitude towards things.
Indeed, everything that surrounds us also influences us. And this cannot always be controlled.
Igor Grossmann, professor of scientific psychology at the University of Waterloo in Canada, points out that we live in an increasingly individualistic society. This observation has been established since the end of the last century and it is now reaching its peak as we are now at the heart of the age of technology.
So, for example, we come to think of happiness as something that you have to forge yourself. And this, by showing good will and determination.
We also tell ourselves that all our goals can be achieved through motivation. We tell ourselves that we can achieve anything if we are determined enough and that, to be well, we just need to feed on positive thoughts.
However, it can be dangerous to place all the responsibility for our well-being on our shoulders alone. Indeed, at any moment, everything can disappear since everything is not under our control; few things depend exclusively on us.
Sometimes fate has in store for us a setback that is as unexpected as it is painful. Sometimes the people around us leave us, betray us or disappoint us. Faced with these situations, we can only note that being happy is not 100% our fault. Adversity is sometimes a chaotic factor that no one can really predict.
Daily practice to achieve psychological well-being
Achieving psychological well-being is not an end or even an end. Rather, it is a daily task. It is therefore important to face the small and big challenges that arise every day. And this, even if we have the impression of living a moment of happiness in a relationship or a moment of absolute professional success.
There will always be events beyond our control. These will sometimes generate stress, anxiety and worry.
However, just because this is happening does not mean that we have done anything wrong. Just because my business suddenly downsizes doesn’t mean I’m less able to do my job. An economic crisis can seriously disrupt a large part of work and the social fabric.
Likewise, if at some point I find myself unemployed and this causes me to be depressed, it does not mean that I am less competent. No less courageous, not even weaker.
In the face of all complicated circumstances, we react like human beings and not like superheroes. We are tied to events and events are often unexpected. It is therefore normal that they affect us more or less strongly.
What does psychological well-being depend on?
We know that psychological well-being is not just up to us. So… What are the factors that determine it?
Research, such as that carried out at the University of Adelaide, Australia, highlights an interesting point. We often tell ourselves that psychological well-being is synonymous with happiness. We logically oppose mental illness.
However, in psychology, and as in most things in life, the absolute does not exist. Things are neither black nor white.
Therefore, the opposite of what is good is not necessarily bad, and the opposite of happiness is not necessarily unhappiness. Rather, it would be fear. So, when we talk about psychological well-being, it is important to consider that this complex concept is in fact made up of multiple parameters.
Ryff’s Mental Wellness Model
Psychologist Carole Ryff articulated an interesting and practical theory in the 1990s on how to achieve psychological well-being. This approach is based on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. It is made up of 6 elements:
- Autonomy. It is the ability of a person to see themselves as independent and able to carry out their actions without any social pressure.
- Environmental control. This term refers to the need to control most of the things around us.
- Personal development. It is based on the idea that we evolve and mature in order to gain a clearer view of the world and of ourselves.
- Positive relationships with others. One of the keys to psychological well-being is enjoying nurturing personal relationships.
- Have a purpose in life. As Viktor Frankl has pointed out, making sense of life is essential to finding some form of balance and satisfaction.
- Self-acceptance. It’s about knowing how to love yourself for who you are. Knowing how to recognize each of our needs and the traits of our character is a way of reaffirming oneself as a person and thus of feeling good.
The analysis of each of these dimensions makes us achieve something…. Achieving psychological well-being depends on factors that are not 100% in our hands. Society does not always offer us this absolute autonomy. So we don’t have control over everything around us.
We can’t always be well and that’s perfectly normal
We are not always doing well and this is normal. We cannot display the same energy, the same optimism and the same motivation every day.
Remember that we are people and not robots programmed by algorithms. What surrounds us affects us. It is therefore perfectly acceptable and understandable to be vulnerable to unforeseen events and to things that are beyond our control.
At the end of the day, it’s no more and no less about knowing how to deal with what happens to us on a daily basis. There will be times when we will be happy and times when we will be deeply unhappy. There will be difficult times and times of calm.
Existence is not a straight line or a long quiet river. We must therefore learn to navigate through uncertainties while striving to be comfortable with ourselves.
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