Your mental health influences how you think, feel and behave in daily life. It also affects your ability to cope with stress, overcome challenges, build relationships and recover from life’s setbacks and hardships. Strong mental health isn’t just the absence of mental health problems. Being mentally or emotionally healthy is much more than being free of depression, anxiety or other psychological issues. Rather than the absence of mental illness, mental health refers to the presence of positive characteristics. Having solid mental health doesn’t mean that you never go through bad times or experience emotional problems. We all go through disappointments, loss and change. And while these are normal parts of life they can still cause sadness, anxiety and stress, but just as physically healthy people are better able to bounce back from illness or injury people with strong mental health are better able to bounce back from adversity, trauma and stress. This ability is called resilience.