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Take a step back and reassess your priorities

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“You cannot stop the waves, but you can learn to surf”

Stress management and building resilience is vital to stay focused, especially in this new pandemic reality that puts everything in perspective. When we are suddenly forced to stop, the pillars of society and the structures of business shake.

We must learn to surf the waves and take advantage of this “forced stop” to reassess some of our behaviours.

We are experiencing several changes in our current lifestyle, with the preventive measures against VOCID-19, among them trying to adapt to teleworking with children at home, with or without virtual classes. Parents have to think about different ways to adapt to their routine.

Working and being productive are two completely different things.

Suddenly, we are (apparently) masters of our time and our decisions, more responsible for our role in the world. On the other hand, we may feel lost in managing our time spent at home and, at the same time as we face the current challenge of social isolation, we become more vulnerable and exposed to our emotions and thoughts.

There is also another reality that totally overwhelms us. We start living a life online at a distance, online and digital meetings with clients, our children have at distance classes, and we attend online gym classes or online webinars. This is but a compromise solution, but can also give rise to burnout.

We can remember moments from the past and perhaps from the present, when the “glass” was full, half full or overflowing, at a time when work or home were the reasons for our stress – or both.

Mental Health

Throughout our lives, we go through many moments when we feel great, alternating with feelings of anxiety and sometimes we can even experience depressive episodes, which is normal.

A positive mental health is rarely an absolute state:  factors from and outside work affect us, pushing us up or down, in a range from good to less good or bad. Stress can manifest itself physically and emotionally, whether in mood, sleep (or insomnia), diet and appearance, as well as other physical symptoms – such as sweaty palms, feeling flushed or warm.

It is important to talk to friends, colleagues, relatives or even health professionals about our symptoms and the consequences of stress, so that we can learn that prevention is the best way to deal with it.

If we can pick up the signs on us and on others, and learn about the strategies to deal with the situation and how to use the tools to face and surf our own waves, we can start helping each other. We can learn that happiness is also up to us.

And last but not least, let us be gentle. Perhaps we need to reorganise ourselves and put ourselves in each other’s shoes and feel or think how we would like to be treated by others.

Happy people do happy business.

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