It feels like we are Betwixt and Between Currently.
It’s January, everyone is talking New Year New Career, goals and vision, and an innate sense of what we need to do, but everything seems to be saying STOP!
Confusion, chaos and uncertainty not being able to do things and move forwards. It feels like we’re being held back and immobilised! It feels like we are in an extended holiday period, and we need to wait until the Spring to spring into action. I feel like I need to scale back rather than propel forward. I feel like I am in a period of mourning for Qtr 1 2020, for things and how they used to be and for Christmas, my birthday and New Year. Even though it’s the beginning of January, I feel in a state of flux, betwixt and between, nothing seems clear. We are in the grips of the storm, we know that it will end, we know it will be over at some point but every day is starting to feel like Groundhog Day and has done for some time now.
I need to do what’s right for me and plan activities around my self-care. I had Christmas, Birthday and New Year to look forward to .. what now?
I need to look at my wellbeing wheel and ensure that I do what is right for me for the next few months.
Our wellbeing wheel is split into six sections.
Health – mental and physical
Wealth – career and finance
Myself – you can choose your very own 2 sections.
I’m choosing Connection (family, friends and community) and Personal Growth (lockdown learning) and you can see I’ve added quite a lot into connection.
Health
Physical
Mountain biking. I love love, love it! I cycle with some friends, and it’s like being a child again. We whoop, and we laugh, and it feels like a rollercoaster. It’s just so fabulous. And when we get back from @Pedalabikeaway it feels like we have been on a little mini-break, and I’m back at my desk by 10.00!
Running. It’s a whole different story. I first did the parkrun when my daughter and son ran it, and she was too young so I had to do it. I hate running and I did it for them. But what I do love about running is how it makes me feel. Every time I run up to the woods outside my house, I think, I’ll never be able to do it, and every time I do. It’s such great mindset work!
Mental
In lockdown MkI I managed to get to yoga more often than I had ever done before, It’s amazing how well it works remotely, and yoga gave me a strong mind and a strong body in 2020 and I needed both of those like never before!
I have a book called Emotional Fitness A – Z for positive mental health by Clare Davis and it’s about keeping emotionally fit and keeping our emotions on the level rather than a roller coaster. There are some great tips on meditation, gratitude, exercise, music and many other things. You can follow Clare on her YouTube Channel.
Wealth
Career
The work you do is a large part of your identity, so make sure it fits your why and you still want to work in the same way as you did before 2020. To look after yourself, you might need to flex your career, so you have time to self-care, especially when homeschooling!
Ensure you keep connected to your fellow employees or join a networking group to keep you talking to people. This means you won’t have to deal with issues on your own, and you’ll have other people experiencing the same emotions, which helps.
We’re launching an online #BeInspiredGetHired Campaign and a career coach and myself will facilitate the group on a bi-weekly basis. We’ve tested it, it’s lots of fun, and we’ve had great results. We’ll take you through our DISCOVER who and where you are, EXPLORE the new work landscape, COMMUNICATE your competitive edge and CONNECT with headhunters and your network. So if you know anyone who’s on furlough or who wants to work more flexibly let them know … link ….
Finance
Financial planning is like career planning, we all know we need to do it, but we never get around to it! It will give you peace of mind to know where you are financially. Bring that meeting forwards with your accountant and financial planner and know where you stand. We recommend Magenta Financial Planning.
Myself
Community & Family & Friends
I’ve really missed my friends in this Christmas period, and I need to have those conversations to feed my soul. We would normally catch up over Christmas and New Year, and that hasn’t happened this year. So I’m going to set up some zoom calls, perhaps fancy dress, so we need to make an effort, and there will be a party theme!
I’m going to reach out to family we couldn’t catch up with and connect with them on a call because we cannot do it in real life.
Personal growth and Lockdown Learning
I’m going to keep close to Local Business Rocks that were a lifeline in the first lockdown and provided plenty of online learning; they have taught me Canva, Google My Business and all about video.
I’m working with a coach for 4 months to get my content and my online courses out there.
I want to do some of the content that’s out there on LinkedIn Learning and Google Garage.
And I’ll be listening to my lifeline podcasts SuperSoul Conversations Oprah Winfrey. Get Sleepy, Desert Islands Discs, Deepak Daily Breath, Finding Brave Kathy Caprino, Unlocking Is Brene Brown.
I’m going to be KIND to me. I will not be comparing my performance to anyone else’s. I will be doing the best I can, and I’ll be walking my walk!
#Lockdown Learning #PersonalGrowth
Sarah started her career in fmcg marketing working as a brand manager on Clover and as an interim manager on Clover (twice) and Quorn. She founded a start-up interim management company in Gloucestershire and that business changed the percentage of women and diverse talent in senior marketing and HR roles. Sarah specialises in attracting, onboarding, developing, engaging and retaining diverse talent into forward thinking businesses to improve productivity, performance and profit. Flexible working and wellbeing play a large part. Since covid-19 wreaked havoc on the job landscape, Sarah has a created an innovative programme to get senior experienced professionals back into work or fine-tune their current role so that it makes happy.