How to Manage Our Emotions in Difficult Times #5 & 6 – Our Status & Achievement Needs

You probably know…

…that meeting our emotional needs well is key to reducing stress levels and avoiding feelings of anxiety and depression. You might not be aware that this also helps minimise the chance of us developing addictions or struggling with anger management.

This fifth in a series of short articles offers some quick tips on meeting our needs for Status and Achievement.

(You can see a full list of our emotional needs in the first article in the series here)

#5 & #6 Our needs for Status and Achievement

We all need to feel a sense of status, by which I mean we need to have a sense of our value, to be appreciated and respected in the family, social, professional and other groups which we belong to.

Closely allied with this is our need to experience competence and achievement within ourselves and this helps us achieve a healthy level of self-esteem.

When we’re separated from these groups and perhaps denied our ‘normal’ daily opportunities to strive and achieve, as many people are in our current climate, how can we continue to meet these two needs in balance and maintain our emotional health?

Some people find it helpful to:

Use technology to remain active in their groups, and/or join new ones, online. Not just for work meetings and family gatherings but also for interactive entertainment – lots of talented musicians for instance are offering some fabulous opportunities to watch and listen to them perform, and interact with them, via social media live-streaming.
Learn something new where they find themselves with more free time, perhaps a hobby or interest, an online qualification or challenge that they’ve not otherwise had enough spare time for.
Set small, realistic goals within their daily routine – where they’re potentially overwhelmed with children at home full time, or working very long hours for instance, plan to take short interludes during the day where they can find a few moments of privacy and reflection for themselves.
Remind themselves how much competence and achievement they are already displaying simply by having the fortitude to stick to social-distancing or self-isolation rules.

I hope you’ll find some of these tips useful; and I’d love to hear about any of your own…

Look out for tips on how to meet need #7, coming soon