Mental Wellbeing

This post is meant as a reminder that since the new year has started, it is important to remember to take care of yourself and your personal wellbeing. We tend to get drawn in to our work life and allow ourselves to be distracted from personal issues by throwing ourselves into work without realising the harm that not taking care of ourselves can actually do. This isn’t some groundbreaking new advice, rather it’s meant as a reminder that if you see yourself slipping in to bad habits, you should definitely take a step back and reframe. This is going to be broken down into a few - probably disconnected - topics. This 30 Second Speech by Bryan Dyson - Former CEO of Coca Cola is a pretty good TL;DR of what this blog post aims to convey.

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. They are Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required time to your family, friends and have proper rest. Value has a value only if its’ value is valued”

Personal Goals:

So, before getting into the work-life balance aspect, one important thing to do is maintain personal goals while making sure that work isn’t the only thing that you’re using to add value to your day to day life. These goals don’t have to be major, life changing events, but they should be something that you want to accomplish to something that you’re aiming towards. For example, saving to go on a trip, painting every second weekend, reading x books a month, doing some course which doesn’t relate to work, seeing friends, etc. In addition, you should probably try ask yourself the following questions every 3 - 6 months, in order to realign with what you want to get out of life:

• Are you happy?
• Are you still taking care of yourself and your personal relationships?
• Are you still enjoying what you’re doing?
• Are you still learning?
• Are you happy?

These questions might seem silly or irrelevant (yes I know I repeated the first question twice), but it’s important to remember that your personal life is the most important thing. A job is just a job, no matter what you do, no matter how “important” your job seems or how “important” your role is, it shouldn’t define who you are. A job is simply a wonderful avenue which provides us the opportunity to pursue meaningful work, make a good living, support our families, and see and do many magical things. Something I found quite helpful here to ask myself was “If I received my current salary and didn’t have to go work Monday to Friday, what would I do to derive meaning from my life, or what would I do to ensure that I maintain a sense of self-worth and a feeling of being satisfied with life?” It’s important not to tie your sense of self and your intrinsic value to your work - yes, you do achieve things, get promoted and get paid etc, but this doesn’t determine your value as a person and it should not be the primary indicator of purpose. This question might surprise you, and many people can’t answer it particularly well.

Mental Wellbeing:

From here I want to talk about some work-life balance issues which I have struggled with in the past and I know a lot of other people have as well. When people work to become more effective they don’t think broadly enough, for example they tend to:

• Lose a sense of proportion, the balance required for effective living
• Get consumed by work - neglect personal wellbeing

Now this doesn’t mean that being passionate about your work and spending a lot of time on it is a bad thing, it just means that you should also remember to take care of yourself. In the following sections I have broken down a few points which constitute personal wellbeing.

Regarding mental wellbeing, one in six of us will experience a mental health problem in any given week, and the mental health awareness day research from last year suggests that a majority of people have experienced some kind of mental health problem, with young adults especially open about this when surveyed. What’s clear then is that in our workplaces and in our circles of friends, there are people living with mental health problems, or just keeping themselves afloat, whether we know it or not. You may not even know that you are dealing with these issues, but the mental health study recommends asking yourself the following questions:

• Do you feel unhappy or very unhappy about the time you devote to work?
• Are you neglecting other aspects of your life because of work? This may increase your vulnerability to mental health problems

The aforementioned study shows:

• when working long hours, more than a quarter of employees feel depressed (27%), one third feel anxious (34%), and more than half feel irritable (58%)
• the more hours you spend at work, the more hours outside of work you are likely to spend thinking or worrying about it
• as a person’s weekly hours increase, so do their feelings of unhappiness
• nearly two thirds of employees have experienced a negative effect on their personal life, including lack of personal development, physical and mental health problems, poor relationships and poor home life.

As an example, myself and a few of my colleagues definitely suffered from increased work stress in the past which caused serious mental health concerns (or exacerbated those which already existed in some cases), causing a loss in productivity, drive and motivation for work. By trying to maximise output we were actually damaging what we could deliver. I can’t emphasise enough that if you feel you are struggling with something, you are not alone - you can definitely reach out to others at work to talk about these things, even if they are personal and highly uncomfortable. Obviously there needs to be some trust, but there is no shame. Mental health issues are much more damaging when they make you think you’re alone in dealing with things. Also, there is no shame in seeking professional help. A colleague of mine regularly talks to someone - both as an outlet to determine if what they’re experiencing is normal and to help deal with mental wellbeing.

Work Life Balance:

A good work-life balance includes having time outside of work for family, friends, leisure activities and eating a balanced diet (rather than just comfort food). All of these factors contribute to improved health and wellbeing. Individuals with good work-life balance are more likely to be flourishing both at work and outside of work. I’ve given some examples below, but this is by no means a comprehensive list of things which could help improve your work life balance:

• Unplug - Leave your work life at work, turn your phone off, stop looking at emails and work communications in the evening and on weekends (One way to do this would be to turn your work phone off when you leave the office and leave your laptop at the office if possible). This will also allow you to gain more control over your life.
• Self-Care - This can be exercise, yoga, and/or meditation which are all effective stress reducers. There isn’t a one size fits all solution here, you need to figure out an activity which allows you to “calm everything down” and helps you regain control over things which may at that point seem insurmountable. The most important part here is the reduction in technology - unplug for an hour or more and allow yourself to breathe. Something I’ve heard that has been ultra successful for others and something I’ve tried is writing about how you felt about certain things - it helps to condense the flow of emotions into something you can work with in a more linear fashion.
• Change the structure of your life - Sometimes we fall into a rut and assume our habits are set in stone. Take a birds-eye view of your life and ask yourself: What changes could make life easier?
• Start small - begin with baby steps so that you don’t cause yourself to burnout. Instead of committing to doing 5-7 days of exercise a week, unplugging every night and weekend, etc. start small. Start with working out 2-3 days a week, unplug on Friday and Saturday evenings and start slowly building up from there. Exercise is a powerful tool for maintaining the right chemical balance in your body and mind. You don’t have to be gym bunny, but even doing a Park Run (you can walk it if you like) every now and then is a solid start.
• Sleep quality - Create a routine and try and make sure that you are getting enough sleep every day. Try go to bed a bit earlier if you can, and unplug from technology as a whole. The light emitted from your devices, such as TV, smartphone, etc . suppresses your body’s production of melatonin and can severely disrupt your sleep. In addition, avoid stimulating activity and stressful situations before bedtime such as catching up on work. Instead, focus on quiet, soothing activities, such as reading or listening to soft music.
• Nutrition and Diet - A study by Harvard health shows that, even though the field of Nutritional Psychiatry is relatively new, there is a direct association between diet quality and mental health across countries, cultures and age groups – depression in particular. This is a massive point which I’m trying to condense into a bullet point, but there are a ton of studies on the link between diet and mental health, e.g. another one by the APA. The TL;DR is that this doesn’t mean that you need to be on permanent diets and only eating healthy food, it just means that you should remember to eat healthy when you can, and drink a lot of water every day to help cleanse your body.

Something that helps me remember work/life balance is that there is not one person alive who, on their death bed, would wish to have spent more time at work. We get caught up in work sometimes and don’t make time for the things that really matter. Yes, we all work, we all live, and we will all die (hopefully not soon) - so make the time for the things you will look back on when you are old, because when you get there, you won’t remember “oh project xyz went really well because I gave so much of myself or I wish I got more accreditations, or I wish that project abc had turned out better because of how much I put in even though it was beyond my control”.

Burnout:

Taking the above into consideration, just because you’ve been working really hard and are feeling a bit burnt out, doesn’t mean that your mental health is an issue, but it could allude to the fact that you’re overworking or that your work-life balance is not sustainable. Here are the recovery behaviour tips that were recommended to me during the leadership coaching (it was more based on science and linked back to the brain, bloodflow and chemicals that allow you to calm down or focus, etc).

• Drink water throughout the day (have a water container for this and fill it up in the morning for the day).
• Try and not sit down for long periods of time, do a little bit of walking every hour (Fitbit isn’t lying about this being good) wherever possible. It seems like you’re breaking productivity by doing this but instead it has the opposite effect when you get back to work and can get back to focusing. Trying to focus for long periods of time definitely weighs down on you and starts affecting what you’re trying to accomplish.
• Take 15 minute buffer breaks (can be combined with your walks) every 2-3 hours (ideally every hour but that’s not feasible). During this time the best way for your brain to recover and restore chemical balance is to avoid technology and people during these 15 minutes. Otherwise it’s not really a break for your brain if you’re still speaking to people or checking your phone.
• Try and divide tasks into subtasks wherever possible so that:
  1. you can complete smaller tasks and get a bit of a dopamine rush by doing that, and
  2. so that you can apply focus in smaller periods of time. There’s a technique called the pomodoro technique where it explains trying to break things up into 25 minute intervals so that you work during 25 minute periods and then take a short break for 5 minutes before starting on the next task.
• It’s good for you to get some proper human interaction every week, I’m not talking about sitting next to somebody at work every day. It’s more towards spending quality time with significant people in your life or loved ones (ideally 1-2 hours) a week where it’s actually just talking to them and spending time with them (once again - no technology involved here either). This level of interaction and closeness is important.

The above diagram illustrates quite nicely where you want to be regarding stress and performance to avoid burnout.

Mental and Physical Health:

While some workplace stress is normal, excessive stress can interfere with your productivity and performance, impact your physical and emotional health, and affect your relationships and home life. The Mental Health Association released a blog post on the link between mental and physical health. The tl;dr of which is:

• The World Health Organization (WHO) defines: health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The WHO states that “there is no health without mental health.”
• Poor mental health is a risk factor for chronic physical conditions.
• People with serious mental health conditions are at high risk of experiencing chronic physical conditions.
• People with chronic physical conditions are at risk of developing poor mental health.
• The social determinants of health impact both chronic physical conditions and mental health. Key aspects of prevention include increasing physical activity, access to nutritious foods, ensuring adequate income and fostering social inclusion and social support.

Financial Health:

Research shows financial issues and mental health problems often go hand-in-hand. A study found that individuals with depression and anxiety were 3x more likely to be in debt. A slight decline in mental health can be linked to increased financial stress. And increased stress can lead to poorer mental health. Now obviously one way to overcome this, or to reduce your financial burden is to improve your financial wellbeing. A few ways to do this are listed below:

• Spend less than you earn - This sounds really simple, but when people start earning money, they tend to spend on irrelevant items because it makes them feel good. They go out for lunch and dinner every day, or buy items that they don’t need or even use after a few weeks.
• Determine what is important to you - Identify what is really important to you so that you can be conscious of only spending significant amounts of money on things that you actually care about, not only will this make cutting back on your spending easier, it will also implicitly ensure that you spend less than you earn if you only spend large amounts on items which you value.
• Save for future spending - An admirable goal is to save up to 20% of your salary every month. If you ever find yourself without a job, or looking to make a change, it is recommended that you have 6 months salary saved in order to sustain yourself.
• Only borrow if you can afford to pay it back - This includes credit cards and loans from friends and family.
• Learn to say no - A lot of the time we want to go out with friends and family even if it negatively impacts out financial wellbeing. Look out for yourself and what is important to your financial wellbeing.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend money, rather spend it where it makes sense and prioritise when you want to make larger purchases. I could also go into investing etc. but this isn’t a sales pitch. I found myself in a position a while ago where I was pretty much living pay cheque to pay cheque before I spoke to some people and realised that I needed to change my spending habits. I looked at what my actual expenses were, cut back on irrelevant things, and started saving as much of my salary as I could, while still maintaining a good lifestyle (in my opinion). Knowing how you truly feel about your financial goals and progress toward reaching them is key. If you are happy with where you are, it shouldn’t matter what others think of your choices. I know a few people who really struggled with in the first 6-12 months of having a job - They spent their first bonus to pay off their credit card because they were spending a lot on things they didn’t need or even really want. If you’re having trouble figuring some of these things out, a friend or older colleague might be super helpful to talk to here. Knowing how you feel and how you’re working towards your financial goals takes thought and effort - goals are all just random ideas until you write them down and measure how you are progressing towards them.

How to Cope:

This article contains quite a few points which you could take into account if you’re looking for ways to cope at work, but one of the most important outcomes is not keeping it to yourself:

• Talk to co-workers - Having a solid support system at work can help buffer you from the negative effects of job stress. This can also be your Teamlead, HR, and/or management.
• Talk to friends and family - Having a strong network of supportive friends and family members is extremely important to managing stress in all areas of your life.
• Build new friendships - If you feel like you don’t have anyone to turn to, it’s never too late to create new friendships. Take yourself out of your comfort zone and meet people you have things in common with, etc.

Obviously this isn’t the start all end all of stress management, but hopefully it will serve as a reminder to take a step back and look at your life.