Today is Bell Let's Talk Day.
If you know anything about the initiative, it's to bring awareness to mental health in the workplace.
According to the Let's Talk site, one in five people in Canada will experience a mental health issue or illness in any given year.
Full honesty? When my oldest daughter was born, I developed post-partum depression.
When my dad passed away, I dealt with anxiety.
When I worked in corporate, the stress was overwhelming. Everything was due NOW. Don't let anyone know you're struggling because they may use it against you. Plus you have the stresses of your everyday life.
Listen, whether you work nine-to-five or if you're entrepreneur, we have stress in our day-to-day lives. We multitask and end up doing a lot of nothing and the work just piles up. It's hard to find time to concentrate and complete a task.
If we are all going to deal with mental health issues throughout our careers, we have to find ways to manage.
So what do you do?
1) Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize! Everything can’t be a top priority. From work projects to volunteering at your child's school, you can't do everything at the same time. If you try to do that, you'll burn yourself out. We all have to take time to figure out what the main things are that we have to do and not beat ourselves up about the rest.
2) Schedule time for self-care. Everyone is talking about self-care, but it's not just about getting your nails done or going to the gym. Being healthy and quiet time are both good for you, but self-care also includes getting rid of toxic people in your life, leaving unfulfilling jobs, finding things that make your heart sing, and living your best life.
3) Breathe. While work is important and we aim to create the most amazing content, we have to realize: it is just work. I don't say this nonchalantly. I know our jobs fund our lives--that mortgage, the car, the kids' camps--but it can't be your entire life. Why? Because jobs end. People get let go. You make mistakes--some big and some small. When it's overwhelming, just breathe.
Overall, and this is really simple and maybe simplistic, be kind to yourself. Remember, everyone is doing their best.
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