January traditionally is a time for resolutions and hopes for a successful, productive year. Most of us start off with really good intentions, that unfortunately, as life gets in the way, seem to wane over time.
This year I haven’t made any resolutions. The only intentions I do have are to continue with all the things I know make me feel energised, productive and calm. All the self-care strategies I’ve developed over the years that help me to show up in the best way I can.
Identifying and slowly integrating self-care practices over time creates a more solid, sustainable foundation. The process is very different to declaring huge (often highly ambitious) resolutions. It’s about learning over time what works and what doesn’t and, as our Bird associate coach Elloa advocates, turning the dial up on those things 1% at a time. Slowly but surely.
This goes for teams in the workplace too. If you have responsibility for individuals at work, and you recognise the importance of their wellbeing, and how well staff leads to more productivity, creativity and enjoyment, then advocating a year long exploration into what self-care practices suit individuals might be the way forward.
You could create buddy-ups where staff support each other through the year around wellbeing and self-care, you could create book clubs or discussion groups around Ted talks on self-care and wellbeing. You could call on us here at Bird to deliver a series of workshops or coaching programmes.
Self-care is a priority, not a luxury. It’s about implementing emotional, physical, intellectual and spiritual wellbeing practices. It’s about learning what really serves you and implementing it over time, so you can go out there and be of service to those around you.
However you do it, whether this is about you as an individual or for those that look to you for guidance, prioritising self-care through the year is a priority if we’re all going to be our best.
With love, Hannah and the Bird team
Photo by Dakota Corbin on Unsplash
Hannah, such a great message here. I’ve been reading recently about ‘The Corporate Athlete’ and have found it very thought-provoking. An actual athlete competes for a few short years, training lots but only needing to ‘perform’ for literally a few minutes or hours at a time. By contrast, in the corporate (or third sector) world, we are expected to perform at our peak day in, day out, week in, week out, year in, year out… over and over again. Yet no one really stops to question how draining that can be — or at least, historically that conversation hasn’t happened. Thankfully it is changing.
Proud to be part of the Bird team supporting people to create 1-degree shifts this year.
Love
Elloa x