Your personal, physical, mental and emotional health is far more important than anything else right now
I will say that again, your personal, physical, mental and emotional health is far more important than anything else right now. Without those, you cannot work and you cannot look after your family.
What have you put in place so far to keep yourself healthy? If you allow yourself to get fatigued in any one of these aspects, what are the consequences of that?
I don’t claim to have all of this right myself. For example, I don’t stretch and get away from my desk enough during the day. Back-to-back calls can get in the way of that. So I have put a break in between every call, to at least give myself the opportunity of moving.
I do get enough sleep though – that is vital for us all to be productive the next day, refreshed and rejuvenated, having consolidated what we learned the day before into our long-term memory for future use. Sleep is also good for our immunity, something that we need to pay extra attention to right now!
I find people with whom I can honestly share my feelings. It’s impossible to be positive all the time, and I need to vent sometimes. I talk about what I have lost – even though I haven’t lost as much as some others, it’s still a loss for me that needs to be processed.
I write, I paint, I bake, I create, switching off my rational brain.
I have started meditation in the mornings. That sets me up for the day. I centre and ground myself with some deep breathing.
I run for fitness and to get rid of the adrenaline in my body.
I have a lovely husband who prepares nutritious meal for me.
Please don’t compare yourself to me though. I give these as examples. Please don’t feel insufficient if you don’t do these things. But do question whether it might be a good idea to start something to re-energise your mind, body and soul.
There is something here about pace too. What is the right rhythm and pace for you? When do you do your best thinking? When do you need time to just be? When is a good time for play? We can’t go at full-tilt all of the time, so when will you put your foot down and when will you slow down?
I notice that many people have foregone holiday time, because “what’s the point if I can’t go away?”. The point is that we still need some down-time. When was your last day off? Week off? I know it’s not the same, holidaying at home. But what does your body need? What does your brain need, to clear the fog? I’ve seen some really inventive birthday parties during lock-down that will be so memorable in years to come. How can you make your stay-at-home holiday memorable?
It’s important that you stay fit personally, physically, mentally and emotionally at any time. But right now, it’s even more important not to let work take over. Some of you will have childcare or eldercare responsibilities too so will be wondering how you can fit all of this in alongside those. What can you do with them? And which do you need alone time for? And watch for more ideas on where to find the time in the next post.
Please feel free to comment below, i’d love to know your views.
Further posts in this mini-series can be found here.
