Welcome to Change Your Life In Your Lunchtime, our four-part series on how to minimise anxiety and overwhelm, from the power of deep breathing to meditation. In our first episode, Vicky Cullinane discussed breathing exercises to relieve stress. For our second, Niamh Ryan shared the importance of
With nearly 20 years of experience working in mental health and wellbeing, Dr Louise Cowpertwait is more passionate than ever about helping people and communities manage their sense of wellbeing, especially in the workplace. Louise is the founder and CEO of MindMatters Clinic, which works with organisations around Aotearoa to provide happy and healthy workforces where people feel well-supported.
“I have my own experience of mental health challenges and have dealt with shame around this, especially the fact that I am a psychologist myself,” she admits. “I have seen the importance of leaders, whether it’s at work or in our communities, talking openly about mental health and wellbeing. We have to talk more about this stuff.”
Two of the key emotions people often experience in the workplace are stress and overwhelm, especially in busy times, like Christmas, or when there is a lot of change happening.
”Through my work, I have noticed a definite rise [in stress]. Data shows an increase of almost 25 per cent, as people are dealing with more severe or complex wellbeing challenges. People’s workloads have gone up and up. We have also dealt with a huge amount of change and uncertainty as a nation. Some of us have been exposed to traumatic events, like Cyclone Gabrielle. It’s certainly a time we should be attending to our wellbeing.
“Stress is when we are facing a challenging time and we do not see how we have the resources to cope with that challenge,” Louise explains. “When we’re stressed our brains tell the rest of our body that there is a threat and tries to put all of its energy into that threat. We get adrenaline, our heart races faster, we might sweat more and feel jittery. We can sustain this for only so long so after a while, we start to become exhausted.”
Overwhelm is the state of mind we go into when we’re stressed. Our mind feels rushed with thoughts and worries, we struggle to concentrate and are easily irritated or upset, which isn’t conducive to performing our best at work,
“When we’re overwhelmed we don’t problem solve or think creatively because our brain has gone into survival mode, so we’re really caught up with our direct experience,” says Louise.
Her advice when dealing with these emotions in the office is to, first and foremost, take a step back from your thoughts and feelings. “There are three tried and true methods to do this — talking it out, writing it out through journalling, or changing your environment, whether that’s going for a walk or, if you can, taking a holiday.”
The next step, recommends Louise, is to assess your situation. Ask yourself: is there anything you can change? Can you talk to your manager about your workload? Can you delegate or outsource tasks to keep things more manageable? Can you see your GP to have your mental or physical health needs addressed?
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Advertise with NZME.“For me personally, I work on filling up my wellbeing kete (toolkit) every day,” says Louise, who in the past has left toxic workplaces with horrendous bosses. She recognises, however, not everyone is in the position to be able to do that and says there are lots of smaller things you can do to keep your wellbeing kete full.
“I do mindfulness meditation and attend yoga. I like to prepare food from scratch, I prioritise time with my friends and time alone to unwind. My partner and I have Trashy Tuesday every week where we prioritise spending time together watching bad TV and having fun snacks. I walk. I try to listen to my body intuitively so I respond earlier if I need something. I get therapy when I need it.”
The key, Louise says, is to remember that we are diverse and have diverse needs. “Find what’s right for you and accumulate the little things that feed your sense of wellbeing.”
5 Healthy Habits To Help Keep You Grounded
- Mindfulness meditation
- Deep breaths to slow the body down
- Doing one thing at a time rather than rushing around
- Create healthy boundaries between work and home life, including digital distractions
- Connect with nature, people (loved ones and your community) and your sense of meaning or purpose.
Below, join Samantha Veitch as she takes you through an energising yoga sequence.
Next week, we explore how to keep your healthy habits on track over the busy holiday period. For more dedicated wellness videos, sign up for Studioredwellness.com
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