Mental health is a person’s condition with regard to their emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Basically meaning that it affects how we think, feel, and act. For example, it helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood to adolescence through adulthood. In relation, emotional intelligence is a concept developed by Daniel Goleman, and it means the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, and overcome challenges. This ability is important to being mentally healthy because uncontrolled emotions and stress impacts your mental health, making you vulnerable to anxiety and depression. If you are unable to understand, be comfortable with, and manage your emotions, you’ll be at risk of being unable to form strong relationships, which can leave you feeling lonely and isolated. Mental disorder is a pattern of behavior in an individual that is associated with distress or disability in an important area of functioning or with significantly increased risk of suffering, death, pain, or disability. One of the common cause of mental disorders are by complex interactions of biological factors, such as neurotransmitter levels. Neurotransmitters are the vehicle by which messages travel from one nerve cell to another in the brain. They affect mood, memory, and our ability to concentrate. This directly affects mental health because when these chemical messengers are disrupted, the message goes back to the transmitter or gets lost, which in result, the interrupted neurotransmitters become depression or strike a tendency towards drug/alcohol dependency. Mental illnesses can be treated through medications and psychotherapy. Stress is the general state of the body, mind, and emotions when an environmental stressor (events or agents that cause stress) has triggered the stress response. Stress is a fact of life that we experience almost every day at different levels. Humans respond to stress in two different ways. First, the stress response is when physiological changes occur in the body in face of a threat; it is a sudden burst of energy to fight or flee from situations perceived as dangerous. On the other hand, there is relaxation response, which is physiological changes that calm the body systems (heart rate, breathing, muscle tension, or blood pressure) and return them to normal functioning. Stress response, or fight-or-flight response, requires a great deal of energy; however, we are equipped to deal with it though short-term, acute stress. Long-term, low-level stress is chronic stress that continues without resolution. Stress plays a role in illness and disease in a variety of ways, affecting the immune system, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system, and mental health. There are limitless sources of stress, but some include life events, daily hassles, job pressure, or money and financial worries. Each person have their own ways of managing stress, but it is important to find the suitable and effective way. Stress can be managed by using stress reduction strategies, such as time management and eliciting social support. This can be done by maintaining a healthy lifestyle that includes a balanced diet, exercise, and adequate sleep. Some relaxation techniques include deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, visualization of peaceful images and scenes, mindful-based meditation, yoga, t’ai chi, biofeedback, or affirmations (positive thoughts). Today, I am mostly stressed about my future career after graduation. I know when I’m stressed because my back neck and shoulders start getting tense and I struggle with falling asleep at night. Honestly, I’m not exactly sure how I manage my stress, but I try hard to spend a lot of time with family and friends. This way, I forget about the stresses and enjoy the time I have in front of me. It’s always difficult to deal with stress, but I think it’s important to recognize the causes, take steps to deal with the root of the problem, and tackle the symptoms. Most importantly, don’t try to battle stress alone because there is always someone in your life that can help.