Humans are emotional beings. Your emotions govern your thinking and behavior. Typically, you develop emotions in infancy, but as you get older, the ability to manage, express and recognize your feelings heightens.

What is Emotional Development?

Emotional development refers to the advancement of expression, recognition, and regulation of feelings in oneself as well as others from childhood to adulthood.

In this light, here is why emotional development is crucial.

• Emotions stimulate you to Take Action. Whenever you are in nerve-wracking situations, your emotions trigger how you respond to the situation in order to increase survival chances. This way, you are able to avoid danger.
• It helps you Make Better Decisions.  Most of the time, your emotions also influence your thoughts constructively. This way, you are able to think clearly hence making a better decision. However, when you are overwhelmed by your emotions, you tend to make irrational decisions and unfair judgment, which you regret later on.
• It Allows Others to Understand you and Vice Versa. Emotions help you build relationships with others by interacting. Through body languages, you are able to understand how other people feel about you.
• They Motivate Future Behaviors. Your emotions are great persuaders of your future actions. For instance, once you have experienced the disgust of eating an expired snack, your emotions alert you to be more observant the next time you buy a snack.
• Provide Incentives for Desired Social Behaviors. Your facial expressions serve as universal social indicators. Subsequently, they evoke specific responses from the perceiver. For instance, sadness evokes sympathy while anger arouses fear.
• Setting Boundaries. Whenever you are not pleased by a person’s behavior, your emotions tend to alert you to let the person know about the discomfort regardless of what they might say.

Conclusion

It’s no secret that we all have feelings, and they play crucial roles in our lives. However, what really matters is how we respond whenever we are overwhelmed by our emotions. It takes practice to learn how to express emotions healthily. On the other hand, if you are unable to control emotions, it’s advisable to seek help.

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