Safeguarding mental wellbeing in times of crisis
Top tips for staying happy and healthy from SumUp’s mental health experts.
Last year, we initiated a company-wide conversation around mental wellbeing at SumUp. We kicked off with an event on World Mental Health Day, during which a panel of Berlin-based SumUppers discussed their personal connections to the topic and considered steps we might take to make our organisation healthier. You can read more about that here.
Since then, our People team invested in a new Employee Assistance Programme–LifeWorks–to ensure that everyone here has access to free, confidential guidance on both work-related and personal topics. But soon after the programme was rolled out in early 2020, COVID-19 turned everything on its head and we all found ourselves suddenly adjusting to an unsettling new reality.
As such, we felt it was important to revisit the subject of mental wellness, with a focus this time on specific challenges posed by the pandemic. And so, some 10 weeks into our unexpected work-from-home experiment, we gathered over Zoom to hear some words of wisdom from SumUppers Kimberly Ibidapo and Renato Andrade, both of whom have studied psychology. They shared tips on how to cope with social distancing and working remotely, and talked more broadly about some of the key components of mental wellbeing. Here are some highlights from the discussion.
Stay happy and healthy while you’re stuck at home
Renato Andrade: If you don’t separate your professional and private life while you’re working from home, you might feel like your workday never ends. One of the best practices I heard from a colleague was that they get ready for work, leave their building, walk around the block, head back home and then start work. It might sound funny, but it’s a simple ritual that clearly signals the beginning and end of the workday. Just by leaving the house, you’re ‘tricking’ your brain into perceiving the situation differently. If possible, create separate spaces in your home for work and relaxation–even if it’s just opposite sides of the same table. If you’re someone who likes to work in bed, bear in mind that while this might feel cosy, it could end up affecting your sleep schedule. Your brain may start to recognise your bed as a stressful place, where you need to be alert.
There’s more to self-care than self-indulgence
Kimberly Ibidapo: I think self-care gets a bit of a bad rap, because people immediately think of expensive spas and face masks. But for me self-care is about ensuring emotional, mental and physical wellbeing: you need to take care of all 3 to feel your best. When you’re on a plane they always tell you to put your oxygen mask on before helping others. Well that’s really all that self-care is–to be of use to others, you need to first look after yourself. Of course, eating well and exercising are great starting points. Yoga and mindfulness meditation are also helpful for many. When it comes to free time, obviously there’s always Netflix, but stimulating activity is better for recharging the batteries–things like gardening, cooking and spending time with friends either in person or online.
Beware of burnout
KI: It can be hard right now to figure out where work ends and your private life begins, so it’s extra important to keep an eye out for symptoms of burnout or emotional exhaustion. These can include chronic stress, continually dreading work, having sleep issues, being unable to detach from work, or persistent physical pain.
The demand-control-support model is a popular framework for understanding and avoiding burnout. To reduce stress, you may need to reduce the demands of your job. If that’s the case, speak to your manager and explain that you need to drop some responsibilities.
Conversely, your problem may be a lack of control or a feeling of being micromanaged, in which case you may need to ask colleagues to trust you and give you more space.
Finally, when it comes to support, vulnerability is a strength. If you’re not feeling OK, don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for support.
Avoid social isolation while social distancing
RA: There are some people who need a lot of social interaction, and those who don’t need so much and actually thrive to some extent in situations like this. But even if you’ve been enjoying quarantine life, you still need plenty of contact with other people. So if you’re working at home, make sure you connect with friends or family in the evening. Solitude can be good for a while, but not to the point of loneliness.
4 traits to help you weather any storm
KI: To maintain what’s known as a positive psychological capital, you need to develop 4 traits–resilience, optimism, self-efficacy and hope. By working on each of these areas, you’ll become mentally stronger.
Resilience is the ability to bounce back in the face of challenges, and to stay motivated during difficult times. Resilient people are able to manage their emotions effectively and are generally optimistic about the future.
Optimism is the ability to have a positive expectation of outcomes, and to approach things more readily. If you’re struggling to stay optimistic in uncertain times, try thinking back to a time when you weren’t optimistic but things did work out.
Self-efficacy is the ability to tackle life successfully–we all have goals and things that we need, and for this we need competency and education. So celebrate accomplishments, and practice both the hard and soft skills you need to reach your goals.
Hope in many cultures is tied to faith, but research shows that it’s really just about having a goal and being able to achieve it. So make sure you have the skills and support necessary to achieve your goals, and try to have a flexible mindset about how you go about achieving them.
Name it to tame it
KI: While it’s good to focus on positives, it’s also important to acknowledge your worries–in psychology we say “name it to tame it”. It can be tempting to ignore our worries by grabbing a glass of wine, putting on Netflix and trying to block out unhappy thoughts. But to change and grow, we have to acknowledge and confront negative emotions. Understanding your feelings, and then vocalising them or writing them down, can help you achieve this.
Set boundaries with colleagues
RA: Working agreements are extra important for remote or collocated teams. When things start happening that haven’t been agreed upfront–like regular lunchtime meetings–you might feel like you’re not being respected. When our needs aren’t being met or we feel we aren’t able to express them, resentment can bubble up inside and generate more stress. A lunchtime meeting might not be stressful in itself, but you may feel stressed because it’s taking place at a time when you feel you shouldn’t be working. So agreements are key–explain your personal limits to your colleagues, and jointly define your limits as a team. There may be times when you need to relax your personal restrictions because it’s in the best interest of the team. But similarly, you may identify times where your restrictions need to be respected because that’s best for you and helps keep your workload sustainable. In the end, you need to find a sustainable balance between what you need, want and can do vs what your team and the company needs.
Special thanks to Angus Fisher and Laura Russo, who also participated in this event.
