Hey there!
What a crazy April, right? Just as many countries started easing their restrictions, we heard the news about variants coming from Brazil and India, with the latter now going into complete lockdown.
If you’re like me and working from home, then you’ve probably got used to it by now.
But of course, one of the biggest challenges is how we take care of ourselves and avoid feeling burned out. I was lucky enough to attend three workshops led by Cara from Softer Success as part of a company effort to help find ways of tackling burnout.
I’m going to share some of her tips, and hopefully, you’ll get some benefits out of it too. She went over three key principles:
Mind Care - Understanding your stress triggers.
Body Care - Techniques to stay calm and improve productivity.
Soul Care - Keeping a positive outlook.
Mind Care:
Have you ever heard of H.A.L.T risk states? It stands for hungry, angry, lonely and tired, and I bet you experienced quite a few of these at some point last month.
It’s important to be aware of when you’re in one of these states and what causes it. If you’re constantly tired in the mornings, for example, perhaps it’s best not to have many meetings then, as you won’t be at your best.
Another issue that’s affected all of us during the COVID pandemic is reliance on technology. Research by Apple has shown that we look at our phone on average about 80 times a day, and over 24 hours, we touch our phones about 2500 times!
The problem with our phones is that we aren’t giving our minds sufficient rest. If, after a long hard day, you go on your phone only to get riled up by news about politics or a controversial Twitter thread, then you’re not really recharging.
Give the phone a rest and do an offline activity. Go outside, read a book or do something that doesn’t involve your phone. For me? I go to the gym, and it does make a difference.
Body Care:
When was the last time you paused, took a deep breath and listened to your body for a few minutes? It sounds cheesy, but it is a great way of reducing your stress levels. In fact, deep breathing has the following benefits:
It reduces stress and blood pressure.
It releases toxins from the body.
It aids in achieving healthy sleep.
Is it any wonder that babies breathe deeply through their diaphragm to reduce their stress levels? No one taught them to do it; it’s in their instinct.
Another technique for dealing with aches after sitting for a long time is doing deep stretches. Get up, do a long stretch and see how better you feel just for doing that. It doesn’t matter whether you’re working or watching TV. The benefits are the same!
To take it a step further, try doing a 1-minute intense activity like press-ups or star jumps to re-energise the body. I’ve done it a few times during that afternoon slump, and believe me; it does help.
Soul Care:
Everyone has their inner critic, and one way of dealing with it is by following the ABC technique created by psychologist Dr Albert Ellis.
The idea is that ‘external events’ do not cause emotions, but beliefs do. Essentially, it means that our emotions and behaviours are not determined by life events but rather by the way in which we process and evaluate these events.
Here’s what it looks like in practice:
A: Activating Event (something happens to you)
B: Belief (the event causes you to have a belief, either rational or irrational)
C: Consequence (the belief leads to a consequence, with rational beliefs leading to healthy consequences and irrational beliefs leading to unhealthy consequences)
It takes some self-awareness, but the key to resolving it is by recognising when a trigger event happens and changing your reaction to it.
Hopefully, these tips have been helpful. I’d love to know which ones were your favourite and how you plan to use them, so feel free to let me know!
Sajjad