Prefer to listen to the blog? You can do that here:
Who would have known, in the blink of an eye, the world would change like it has? Or that it could?
5 weeks ago, I was planning this year’s workshops. It seems a lifetime ago!
Chaos, Change, Vulnerability
The initial chaos and uncertainty accompanying the spreading coronavirus was unsettling. People, families, businesses, governments, and entire countries working to understand it. To decide what to do.
So many questions. Changes. Jobs lost. Businesses closed. Working from home en masse. Travel restrictions. Isolation.
Collective vulnerability.
So I’m focusing on the heart of wellness. To me, that’s about how challenges impact emotional health; work and life roles as we knew them; financial wellness.
Three Options
We respond to challenges in our own ways. That translates into seeing ‘the best and worst of human nature’.
Still, there are only three ways to deal with any challenge. No matter how big or small:
- Ignore it.
- Embrace it and tackle it head on.
- Head in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.
When we’re ready to embrace the challenge we’ve usually reached a tipping point. It’s time to move forward.
Flexibility and Adaptability
Being forced to accept changes, as we are now, for our collective wellbeing, feels different. The urgency demands an accelerated ability to listen and comply with directives.
This is fast-paced change. How we feel about it, and respond to it, and the associated stress, is personal. Based on things including:
- past experiences.
- view of life, including authority.
- resilience.
- ability to feel in charge amidst chaos.
- flexibility and adaptability.
- emotional health.
Can you feel in charge of your life amidst chaos? Yes. Starting with allowing yourself to be flexible. Then adapting your responses to what’s happening.
This can be easier said than done. Especially if there’s been nothing in your life previously to test, or develop, those skills.
So, while I’m loving all the amazing stories of adapting to the new normal, I’m conscious this isn’t the case for everyone. That adapting may seem impossible, because the change has been too big, too much, too soon. Too scary. Totally overwhelming.
- Maybe it’s because the flexibility, adaptability and resilience ‘mind muscles’ haven’t been tested before.
- That being out of the home environment was what made life OK.
- Or, because, well, you can’t quite put your finger on what it is, except you just feel a bit … (insert the word that fits) right now.
Emotional Health
Emotional health is key in managing change. It sits at the core of wellness for a reason. It’s more important than ever. For all of us.
I believe:
How we are and who we are impacts and influences what we do and how we do it”.
Anne Whatley-Dale
The Wellness/Wellbeing Barometer
The link between how we are and who we are helped me develop the Wellness/Wellbeing Barometer (above). It’s the reason emotional health, self/roles and financial wellness sit at its heart. They impact each other constantly. In both directions.
The Barometer recognises it’s challenging to have a true sense of wellness when we’re not feeling in charge of the heart. Meaning we’re usually more engaged and fulfilled in social, physical, family, spiritual or knowledge-based areas of life when these heart areas are in synch.
Notice I said, ‘feeling in charge’. Not ‘being in control’. Why? Because feeling in charge amidst challenging situations instils confidence around getting to the other side.
Feeling in Charge
If you’re having a wobbly moment, where you don’t recognise yourself, or your responses, you’re not alone.
Take a breath. Be kind to yourself. Feel your feelings. Let it be OK to not be OK, instead of adding ‘becoming OK’ to what’s in front of you.
If you’re looking for insights into your heart of wellness, grab a pen and paper, or journal. Then ask yourself, in relation to now:
Emotional Health:
- are my emotions supporting me, managing me, or motivating me?
Self and Roles:
- How am I in myself?
- How do I perceive myself compared to how I believe others perceive me?
- How well am I engaging in each of the roles I play in my life? Am I fully present or just physically present?
Financial Wellness:
- It’s not about the ‘zeros’! It’s about whether you have enough compared to what you need.
- Am I able to do what I want in each area of my life, without worrying about money?
Writing helps process thoughts. Challenges usually seem more manageable.
Opportunities in Challenges
Within all challenges lie opportunities.
So, armed with these insights, what current challenge can you re-frame into an opportunity? To embrace now?
To make you smile? Take a breath? See things differently?
Drop me a line to let me know how you go. Or if you need any help.
Next time we’ll look at strategies for supporting emotional health.
Take care.
Anne