National Wellness Month

We usually don’t need an excuse to write about wellness, but as it’s National Wellness month this month, we thought we’d take part.

I started by asking the team what they were going to do this month to ensure they were looking after themselves. Here are some of the responses.

“I’m committing to not going back to visit a city anytime soon and to learning how to sea kayak” – Claire, Customer Success.

“I recently bought new shoes for running so trying to make sure I get out a little bit every day because cardio helps me relax. I’m also getting into a new app called Forest which times how long you spend away from your mobile phone, the more time spent away= the more virtual coins you can get to spend on planting a tree in real life. So I’m using it to make sure theres no phones before bed and phone free breaks! ” – Vanessa, Sales

“I’m going to stop doomscrolling the news re: COVID, wildfires, etc.” – Morgan, Customer Success.

“Getting back into yoga. I’m aiming for every other day until at least the end of the month.” – Miranda, Data Value.

“Booking holidays and time off in September, exercising regularly and getting back on my bike again after being injured, weekly therapy sessions, morning walks before work, not overloading my social calendar so I have time to actually chill”– Miriam, PeopleOps.

“I’m heading to Scotland in about a week and plan to go stay off all devices (including deleting Slack off my phone)” – Sophie, Marketing.

“I’m trying to get moving more, be that zumba dancing or dog walking. I’m going to commit to not unhealthily obsessing over the scales too – and only weigh every few weeks” – Laura, PeopleOps.

“Driving far away from light pollution and photographing the night sky, already did a mini trip last weekend – was amazing!” – Yulia, Support Engineering.

“I’m going to carry heavy loads. So far, I have moved more than 3 tons this month. It makes me sleep like a baby.” – Joao, TechOps.

“I signed back up to the gym last Monday, and I’ve actually been a few times already. Time to drop those pandemic pounds!” – Paul, Data Value.

“Drink more water!” – Niso, Sales.

Last week I led a short company-wide session on how we can set SMART goals to improve our mental health. It’s pretty common to see SMART goals being used within the workplace, but I don’t think there are too many people who also set SMART goals in their personal lives. I certainly hadn’t considered it until I was undergoing an assessment for Mentalization-based therapy (MBT) and was told that setting SMART goals was a massive part of that kind of therapy. One of the examples I included in my presentation was:

Problem: I don’t know how to be on my own.

Goal: For the next 3 months, I will take myself on a “date” one time a week. This may include going to the cinema on my own, taking myself out for dinner or going to a gig on my own.

It’s [s]pecific, it’s [m]easurable, it’s [a]chievable, it’s [r]elevant and it’s [t]ime sensitive.

Later this month we have Libby from Spill talking to us about how we can build strong mental health when life makes it difficult. We’re all very much looking forward to that, especially after the turbulent last 18 months we’ve all had. 

What are you doing this month to look after yourself?