
My UN17 Goals are Clean water and Sanitation, Good Health and Well-being,
Gender Equality and Affordable and Clean Energy.
Today I am focusing mainly on Good Health and Well Being and wanted to write a short post explaining why it is so important to me and what I do to keep on top of it.
You can never underestimate how much you are feeling inside your head, can affect your daily life. In the recent past I have posted onto Linkedin about the need to keep active and how that helps me keep my mental health on track and I wanted to expand on it here.
Keeping active has always been a big thing for me, if I can't physically move and do walks or exercise (swimming, running, cycling) then it really starts to impact on my mental health and I start to feel both frustrated and down. For over 25 years I have swam two to three times a week and I can't over state what this has done for me. Fitting these swims in is not just part of my life, it is one of the most important ways I keep in touch with who I am. The raising of the serotonin and the cardio clear my mind and help me focus and find clarity. Currently I swim before work or on my days off, but in the past I have also swam during my work day, in my lunch break, and I strongly advocate doing something like this in the middle of your work day to keep not just your body but your mind in the best shape. That complete break from the routine in the middle of day gives a complete lift and renewed energy to work through the afternoon. Even if you can only get out for a 15 minute walk, it will make all the difference to the rest of your day and possibly more - why don't you give it a try?
I also believe you must be able to have a healthy work life balance to keep on top of your mental health. So make sure that if you are on leave, then YOU ARE ON LEAVE and you are not working or being contacted about your work during that time. Here at C A Dyer one of our priorities is making sure we all have a happy and healthy work life balance and this is rule number one with that. Work hard/ relax hard!
Sometimes however, it is harder to leave work behind mentally if you are in a more toxic environment. You can spend your time away from the office still as stressed about your workload, job or role for a variety of reasons. These range from being very overworked (so you are constantly planning your workload in your head ready to get back to your desk) or other times you can't mentally break away from work because you are feeling bullied, demoralised or even gas lighted by others. This can make you feel so depressed that you do not want to be in that role. If you have ever been in this position you will know what I mean. If you are in this position now, please do whatever you must to change the narrative, even if that means moving on.
My final thought on this is to simply keep walking and breathing each day to keep your mental health in check. There are lots of breathing techniques out there but personally I just like to take a slow breath in and out and focus on my thoughts when I am doing one of my walking routes. Walking and breathing equals a clear and happy mind for me, what about you?
Stay happy,
Em

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