This article is devoted to the second pillar of mental wellbeing – psychological wellbeing. The topic of psychological wellbeing receives a lot of attention in the media – multiple organisations have been established to provide clarity regarding specific disorders and promote self-acceptance and personal growth.
A previous article referred to psychological wellbeing as a feeling of fulfilment and living a meaningful and purpose-driven life. It also referenced environmental mastery which reflects our ability to make use of opportunities as they present themselves. This pillar, therefore, refers to your feeling of enjoyment and pleasure linked to your sense of meaning and fulfilment in life.
This is a mouthful – finding joy, meaning and fulfilment. In this article, we will explore six dimensions related to psychological wellbeing. These dimensions are derived from the Ryff Scale of measurement, an instrument used by healthcare professionals to measure psychological wellbeing. It is used to measure multiple facets of psychological wellbeing: self-acceptance, the establishment of quality ties to others, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life and personal growth. Let us look at each of these dimensions.
Self-acceptance
Self-acceptance refers to our ability to embrace all of yourself – the positive and the negative. A person who is accepting of themself is satisfied with who they are and acknowledges their shortcomings. It requires celebrating our strengths, understanding and accepting that we will make mistakes, recognising ‘the silver lining’ in situations, being compassionate with ourselves, staying positive and having healthy self-esteem.
Positive relationship with others
We have discussed social wellbeing in the previous article but as a reminder, this dimension refers to having warm, satisfying and trusting relationships with others. It refers to our ability to be concerned about the welfare of others and being capable to show empathy and affection.
Autonomy
This aspect also relates to social wellbeing but reflects more on our ability to be independent and resist social pressures. It relates to how we evaluate ourselves by personal standards. The dictionary defines it as: “… the right or condition of self-government.” It further describes our self-determination which refers to how motivated we are to grow and how our need for growth drives our behaviour.
Environmental mastery
As briefly mentioned in the previous article, environmental mastery refers to our ability to leverage opportunities and to create the context within our environment that fulfil our needs and values.
This dimension also reflects how competent you feel to meet the demands of a situation. A person with a high sense of environmental mastery feels that they have the resources and capacity to cope, adjust to problems and are not overwhelmed by stress.
Purpose in life
Finding purpose in life, having direction and the feeling that there is meaning in your life is the next dimension in psychological wellbeing. Research substantiates that people who have a purpose-driven life live longer. Finding purpose could be a continuous process for some as what you thought was driving your meaning today, might not be that important tomorrow because situations change.
This means that we are in a constant search for meaning. We all set goals continuously because you either met your previous goals or you wish to refine them as life presents different opportunities. This means that we review our goals and purpose continuously, which links to our next dimension, personal growth.
Personal growth
Personal growth refers to our feelings of continued development. It requires that we are open to new experiences, see our potential to improve and change as we navigate through daily challenges and opportunities.
We reach growth by exposing ourselves to the unknown using each of the dimensions described below:
- The knowledge of self and accepting that we can grow (self-acceptance)
- Using our relationships to support our growth (social wellbeing)
- Being determined and motivated to see the challenge through (autonomy)
- Having the sense of identifying an opportunity and capacity to see whether this opportunity links to our standards and values (environmental mastery)
- Making sure that the opportunity is in line with our purpose in life and finding meaning (purpose in life).
Each dimension is linked to the other to underline our psychological well-being. This does not mean that you are psychologically distressed if you are not equally adapted to each dimension described above.
As we indicated, we are in a continuum of development and growth. And we should be – experiences change us. They teach us more about ourselves and the people we share them with. It, therefore, reflects a healthy state of being if we do reflect on opportunities, weigh in on the value of relationships and continuously check in with ourselves to see what / who adds value to our lives and who / what does not.
Healthy decisions rely on our ability to distinguish what is good for us and what is not – the ability to walk away from what does not serve us and to embrace and nurture what does.
May the journey of exploration and growth be rewarding.
