“Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn't.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

For as long as I can remember, I’ve never been really great at self-care. Start something - stop something, all the good intentions. Breathe deeply, do the exercise, listen to the podcast, try meditation, yoga, a day retreat, self-care books … the list goes on, but I’ve never been particularly great at habit building or changing in a significant way. The busyness of life seems to get in the way. I think I spend an inordinate amount of time trying and maybe that’s ok? It does feel a little like bumping along through life and never really stopping to think about it - I am that bear ….

There is so much attention and noise currently (and rightly so) about health, mental health, wellbeing, and looking out for one another, particularly post-pandemic with the hybrid working arrangements most of us have experienced and/or got used to - it’s easy to get lost in it all and think ‘it’s just another thing’. ‘I’m fine’. We’re fine.

On a simple level - some really, really practical things we’ve suggested for our team who are largely working remotely have helped us focus on a bit more self-care:

Get in your ‘Five a Day’ - and we’re not talking vegetables! Three exercises and two wellbeing activities - as simple as mid-morning, lunch, and afternoon - get up from your desk and away from your screen and move! Stroll round your garden if you have one, physical stretches, a walk, go outside and soak in the natural daylight - you get the idea.

The wellbeing activities we’ve shared have ranged from meditation, reading a chapter of a book, to eating a bacon sandwich mindfully! (it might sound amusing but actually if that’s what works for you, why not?). The idea is to check in on people and make sure they are practising some self-care - even although we all know what’s good for us we don’t always engage with it.

We’ve just completed Joyful June and another activity we got involved with through Action for Happiness was collecting notes of ‘good or joyful things’ that happened daily, putting them in a jar to look back on later. Strangely motivating and satisfying to reflect on a day and really think about what was good - it can lead to actually forming some self-care habits unknowingly! There are some great resources in general on the their website around taking action to lead you towards a happier life.

And what about that feeling of ‘being in the office but not being in the office’? We’re all used to daily meetings on Teams now and chatting via the keyboard. Another idea that we’re trialling is opening up a Teams channel a couple of times a week and inviting team members to ‘drop in and work together’ - as you would have done in early 2020 - we’ve lost a bit of that morning chat round the coffee machine, watercooler moments throughout the day, or simply listening in to conversations around you which can all be so vital for business knowledge.

The reality is we are probably not all fine all of the time and today’s working environment is harder to navigate than ever. The hot topic this week at the ISE Development Conference where Interaction spoke, was centred around early talent and the new hybrid world of working within early career professional networks. The University of Leeds Business School shared some really interesting research and statistics around what early talent needs and wants and what employers could be missing. We can share the output from our collaborative session with them: leave your details at this link

Whether we call it self-care, well-being, mindfulness or something else - there really is always another way to go down those stairs, right?