Last week at the Chamber Wellbeing Windown, very well organized by the lovely Kate Denne who kindly asked me to share some tips …. What are you doing to help yourself keep mentally well?

Sometimes we get so carried away with work we forget to look after our own needs Here is what I shared:

  1. Ensure you have boundaries between work hours and home hours – most of us are working from home hence don’t have a physical cut off. It is important to create one a metaphorical door, closing the office door and switch off the laptop and walk away.

 

  1. Have regular breaks – We are all spending a lot of time now in online meetings but are you having enough breaks. Make sure you factor in a few minutes between meetings to avoid zoom fatigue.

 

  1. Check in with yourself – when was the last time you asked yourself what you needed and how you were? It’s amazing the wisdom you can gleam from asking yourself useful questions. It may be as simple as a glass of water, some fresh air or the loo or a little more focussed on your mental wellbeing, you may need a break, maybe a couple of hours or a couple of days …ask yourself how you are doing? What you need?

 

  1. Colleague Coffee Chat – it is so easy to become insular when working from home, at work we are used to the coffee machine chats that helped us to catch up with others and find out what’s going on. When was the last time your picked up the phone and had a coffee chat with a colleague? Is it time to make time for a coffee break with a colleague?

 

  1. Food Impacts Mood – it can be so easy to binge on lots of refined carbs or empty calories such as – chocolate crisps sweets biscuits, cakes alcohol but how do you feel after a binge lethargic? Sleepy? Annoyed? Irritable? Choose healthy foods more of the time (we all need a bit of crap every now and then) so nourish you and feel the benefit.

 

  1. Move your body- there are so many different ways to exercise and have some fun with it. Lots of online classes and videos from HITT, Yoga and meditation classes. Alternative take a walk, or a jog or if all else fails simply putting a great track on and having a boogie round the room. This can really raise the heart rate and have you change your state almost instantly.

 

  1. Action Leads to Motivation – if you are waiting to get motivated to do any of the above you may be waiting a long time! Actions lead to motivation not the other way around – so waste no more time and apply the JDI principle give yourself permission and Just Do It the motivation will proceed.