Social wellness is a concept that encompasses your relationships with others and your relationships with yourself. If you can maintain individuality as a human being by actively participating in the world around you, then you are a socially good person.
This often leads to better care for your community, the larger community, and the people around you. Many people overlook social welfare as an essential part of their wellness. This pillar of health is as important as physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
When you surround yourself with genuine relationships, healthy friendships, and beautiful relationships with people you interact with regularly, it ultimately improves your life.
Social wellness can also improve other areas of health. Do you think you are good socially? How to do this?
Here are six signs of social wellness that most people overlook.
1. Claim without aggression
Many people struggle with assertiveness. It is the ability to stand up for oneself without fear, shame, or apology. When you do that, you’ve achieved a certain amount of adequate social welfare.
As some people think, many are also dealing with aggression, so they are attacking themselves with aggression. Crossing this line can lead to passive aggression or direct aggression. This is not a case of being ambitious.
Features of assertiveness that reflect social wellness:
Research shows that you are ambitious if you have the following traits and abilities:
- You don’t experience any negative emotions when communicating boundaries and needs.
- You can maintain comfortable and positive relationships with people around you.
- You know your rights well.
- You freely express your wishes, feelings, and thoughts.
- You don’t bottle up your thoughts, so you don’t get hurt and upset when your needs aren’t met.
- When faced with anger, you control it and express it effectively.
- You are ready to compromise with the people around you without reducing your rights.
- You know a good mix of verbal and non-verbal forms and can use both when necessary.
- You will easily distinguish between assertiveness, aggressiveness, and passive-aggressiveness.
- You are not ashamed to express your needs; set healthy boundaries without apology.
2. Treat others with respect
The ability to treat people around you with respect is a great sign of social wellness. This means that you have excellent or comfortable relationships with the people around you and are happy to be the “bigger person” during unfair conflicts.
You don’t feel threatened by the people around you, and you’re not interested in putting them down for any reason. Respect is a somewhat nuanced topic. It doesn’t mean agreeing with everyone all the time. That doesn’t mean letting people walk all over you or always allowing them to have their way.
And, of course, it doesn’t mean giving room or concessions to those who are obnoxious or have innately negative harmful views and intentions.
Instead, respecting others means knowing all people’s rights and that they deserve those rights, no matter who or what they are. It also means communicating well with others and respecting their boundaries, needs and communication.
3. Well-balanced social and personal time
Everyone needs to balance their “me-time” and time with others. Even introverts benefit from social interaction and should keep it in their lives. Even extroverts need time to rebuild their lives.
Research shows that social interaction is significant to wellness, but so is personal time. Research shows that taking time from work and home is extremely important and strengthens relationships.
Many people struggle with loneliness when they are not with others. But you can be alone without being lonely. Learning to enjoy your own company is an enriching experience. The ability to take yourself out on dates and sit down with yourself is a clear indicator of social wellness.
On the flip side, some people struggle to make friends and dislike social interaction regularly. Taking it slow and steady by joining online groups, community clubs, local volunteer organizations, and other similar circles can be a great way to incorporate more social experiences into your life.
After balancing personal and social time, there is an aspect of social wellness. To take it further, you must have good colonial times with strong circles of likes, dislikes, and sincere people. After all, your social wellness depends on the people you interact with.
4. The ability to be yourself
It may surprise you, but you have many signs of social wellness. If you aim to be socially sound while interacting with others, you want to justify yourself. It sounds simple, but it’s something that many people struggle with.
Ultimately, the ability to be yourself is a powerful and valuable trait. When you’re good socially, you can fully be who you are when introducing yourself to others and spending time with friends or family. This means that you:
- Are you comfortable in your skin?
- Feel appreciated and valued for who you are
- Relax in the company of friends and family members
- Feel like you belong in the spaces you’re in
- You can step outside of your comfort zone without compromising your personality
- Be secure about yourself and don’t compare yourself to others or put others down
- Love and accept yourself, even as you acknowledge the things you want to do for the better
- Have healthy self-esteem and don’t rely on others for validation
5. Getting involved in public and having fun doing it
Social wellness is not just about your close friends and family members. It is also about having enough acquaintances with whom you have a positive or neutral relationship and can confidently communicate.
While this may seem like an impossible concept to many who struggle with social certainty, humans are social creatures by nature. We thrive on human connection and should be grateful for those moments!
Sometimes it can be challenging to participate in a community, even if you grew up around it or have technically been a part of it for many years. You can try to increase your community participation in the following ways:
- Chat with those in the neighborhood for a few minutes
- Join clubs and groups you’re interested in locally
- Chat with people you see regularly
- Expanding your horizons and seeking out new communities and friends outside your usual sphere
- Volunteer for organizations you believe in
- Participate in community events
- Play social sports
- Looking for a consultant in your area
On top of that, one of the critical characteristics of social wellness is your ability to enjoy yourself in social situations. If you’re constantly anxious, worried, or otherwise miserable in these situations, there’s not much point in being around others.
Having fun improves your overall happiness and creates positive relationships. This will facilitate bonding moments that encourage you to socialize further. This does not mean you can never be an excellent social person if you have social concerns.
But you can’t deny that being at peace, letting loose, and having tons of fun are part and parcel of spending time with the people you love. If social interaction is robbing you of the ability to have fun, then your journey to social wellness is a little further along.
6. Good communication skills and better relationships
An absolute cornerstone of social wellness is your ability to communicate. Conflict will arise without good communication, and any relationship can be damaged. No one can read another’s mind. So if there’s something that needs to be said, it needs to be said out loud!
But communication is about more than just talking about what you think. It knows how to do it effectively and positively. This facilitates better conflict resolution and helps relationships stay strong and strengthened. Because of this:
- Using non-accusatory language when pointing out an issue with someone, allowing for open discussion
- A response formula to have excellent listening skills and understanding people when they hear them instead of just listening
- Expressing your thoughts and feelings without shame
- Refraining from avoidable behaviors and dealing with conflict directly reduces resentment
- Be constructive and firm without being harsh or unfair when challenging someone for negative actions
- Knowing when it’s time to pause and try again in complex conflicts or communication issues
- Being comfortable expressing your needs and saying what you want without hesitation or apology.
Good communication skills also allow you to communicate with the most reliable people. You’re not overly generous with who sees you at your weakest, but you’re also not unnecessarily withdrawn.
This means you build warm and close relationships with a select few who have earned your trust and feel the same way about you. These communication skills also allow you to learn from the people around you.
You’re always open and curious about what people have to share. If you leave most conversations a little wiser and happy about it, you have a high level of social wellness!
A final thought about some signs of social wellness is often overlooked
Social wellness is an integral part of a healthy and happy life. If you mark many of these signs of social wellness, congratulations! You lead a healthy social life, love, and prioritize yourself while caring for others.
You have a healthy support system, a good circle of close friends, and positive interactions with your community. Think you’re not good socially? The good news is that you can improve your social wellness by strengthening your social skills and working on your confidence and self-esteem.
If you need help, don’t hesitate to see a mental health professional, especially one who focuses on socialization and social care!
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