When Work Gets Heavy, Remember To Unburden
A.K.A Nothing is worth your mental health
The values of hard work are touted to us from a very early age and for good reason, hard work is sometimes the difference between people who make it and people who are left frustrated by their own talent.
These days, people like to tout a different reality that of smart work actually being the needed oomph where hard work once ruled the day.
It is necessary to realize that without the advances that we have made with technology that probably would not hold true and it really only holds true now in the view of smart work being basically hard work, only this time carried out by your brain.
Where before physical strength and perseverance ruled the game, now logical strength and creativity tend to rule the game. So you think hard so you do not have to expend more energy than is necessary.
It is easier to allow for the wear and tear that comes as a result of physical work compared to the wear and tear that comes as a result of mental work, yet accounting for mental health is vital.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.
Anyone who reads that should easily see the necessity of taking care of their mental health. Mental health goes beyond the absence of any mental disorders to actually insist upon the presence of positive characteristics.
So it calls upon the individual to ask themselves; Am I coping well with life? Am I still able to work productively and fruitfully?
Break that down further; Is there still joy in my day? Do I still consider myself up to tasks even when challenges come up? Can I still pinpoint my particular contribution to my community?
Reading Olark Live Chat, the article ‘It’s 2017 and Mental Health is still an issue in the workplace’ caught our eye and especially this reasoning on why that is ludicrous;
“It’s 2017. We are in a knowledge economy. Our jobs require us to execute at peak mental performance. When an athlete is injured they sit on the bench and recover. Let’s get rid of the idea that somehow the brain is different.”
Understanding that our mental health is important should spur us on to take better care of it but we often do not know how.
Here are a couple of ways that we found to be helpful;
Take breaks
We know you may have something to prove but you cannot do that at the expense of your own health. Try not to take out huge chunks of your rest time for work. Actually, go home from work everyday, don’t just change location and continue working.
Take your annual leaves and go on vacations and channel some TGIFs into resting and relaxing rather than doing other strenuous activities.
Ask for help
If you are feeling frayed at the edges, by all means ask for help from your colleagues, friend, families and even your employer. You can unburden faster when the burden is shared even if all they can offer is some encouragement and a shoulder to ‘sleep on’.
Do something you enjoy everyday
Doing something you actually like is a great way to unburden. You can write like we all do over here if it makes you feel better or read a book or dance to some music alone in your room, literally, whatever makes you happy.
Eat well and exercise
Food is a pretty vital part of preserving your mental health, after all your brain works on the energy supplied by the food you eat. Exercise also adds to your entire sense of well being.
