An Emirati Eye: Aida Al Busaidy On The Importance of Mental, Physical and Emotional Wellbeing
Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s new columnist shares how she managed to make a personal change in her own life in her latest column
Wellbeing has three different aspects: an emotional, mental and physical trifecta. When one is affected or compromised, there’s a shift in a person’s equilibrium. What annoys me the most is that this isn’t actually spoken about – or discussed with children – so when we were younger we took it for granted that we would always be ok. There would never be any struggles to overcome. Growing up, terms such as ‘mental health’ didn’t really pop up and no one ever brought up the subject or equipped you with tools to cope with challenges in the future.
Even if you did feel emotionally disconnected, you couldn’t really talk about your emotions in a way that didn’t shock everyone around you. In short, the less expressive you were meant you were doing fine – when, in fact, you could be crumbling but hesitant to signal an alert to others to help.
Times are definitely changing. But even though these terms have been finally introduced and addressed in our society, they are often being brushed off. We’ve even managed to put the pandemic behind us even though most of us were probably emotional wrecks during that time, with our mental stability rocked to the core and our physical activity severely limited during the isolation period.
Fast forward into the fourth decade of my existence – sprinkle in some life-changing experiences such as post-partum depression, the loss of a parent and stress-related health scares – and I realised I needed to dissect the areas of my life that needed the most self-care.
You’d think that epiphany would be enough, but it led to yet more questions. How do we take care of ourselves? Where do we start? How do we even know it’s right? And when we start, how do we know it’s working?
An eternal optimist, I took on the challenge. I might not be able to change circumstances or those around me, but what I could change was me, myself and I. I realised that if I didn’t put myself first, then no one else would, and that would make for a very bad day, which would lead to a series of very bad days.
The first step? Cut off negative people from my life. And building on that, I try to not allow new people like that into my immediate space.
Secondly, I try to control my emotions. This is a roller coaster because, come on, how can you not express those? Picking when and with whom to share has been a learning curve. So yes, I do get road rage at times but I’ll use the tools at my disposal to tone things down, like playing music in the car to calm myself.
Physically, I’ve always been active and movement is key to my happiness. We are blessed to live in Dubai, which hosts a citywide 30-day fitness month, so in the name of releasing all those endorphins, get moving and change that stress to steps!
Does taking care of youself in these areas mean you’ve got it right and life is all daisies? Erm… no. But it’s a start. And you know what they say, the hardest part is embarking on the journey. Small steps will take you far.
Photography: Efraim Evidor. Styling: Imogene Legrand. Aida wears: Abaya, DHS1,665, 1309 Studios. Dress, Aida’s own. Make-up: Sarah Saya. Special thanks to One&Only The Palm.
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia’s October 2023 issue.