The pandemic took a heavy toll on the mental resilience or health of millions of professionals. Many people lost their jobs. Some lost loved ones because of Covid-19. For many, it was too much to bear. When the pandemic started to slow down, the discussion surrounding mental health inside the office made it to the table for many companies.
Today, that momentum continues to build-up with organizations bolstering up initiatives and incentives to improve and nurture mental resilience inside the office.
What is Mental Resilience?
Mental resilience or psychological resilience is the ability of an individual to cope and navigate his or her mental and emotional state during times of crisis or uncertainty. So, if an individual’s mental resilience is strong, he or she would be able to better deal with struggles mentally and emotionally.
At the office, people deal with stress that can be rooted in different reasons like workloads, toxic work environments, job insecurity, poor leadership, and more. To make things worse, stress impacts other aspects of their lives like at home and throughout the general public.
These days, more and more people are finding relevance in the need to break down the stigma surrounding mental health. It is a point in people’s lives that they are questioning or even countering the idea of “it’s all in your head.”
How to improve mental resilience in the office?
There are many initiatives on how you or maybe your employer can strengthen mental resilience in the office. Here is a good example.
The company City Year provides a range of mental health services and resources to their AmeriCorps members after reaching 10 months of employment. They offer virtual therapy and meditation sessions. The company also gives training to members so they themselves can also help others deal with mental health.
So, if you are looking to do something, you can start with the following:
- Connecting with a mental health expert like a counselor and psychologist. You might not think that you’re dealing with mental health issues but a conversation with someone who is an expert might prove you wrong. There are a number of providers out there and not to mention mobile applications that will help you connect with the right people.
- Start meditating or do yoga. Something that can help you relax and refocus your mind. For most people, it is difficult to achieve their desired outcomes from these activities. But with a little bit of push, something will improve. You can do these activities in your office. Keep in mind that meditation and yoga aren’t the only activities you can do to allow your mind to breathe. Aerobics, Zumba, jogging, and other exercises can also be beneficial to your mental health.
- Communicate with your colleagues. It is true that an office is a place for business and professionalism. But that doesn’t mean people can’t connect mentally and emotionally. There are sure boundaries that can’t be crossed. But, to connect with someone and have meaningful discussions about what you are going through is powerful. People better understand each other through their struggles. Everyone starts to relate with one another and then they are able to help each other.
- Enhance your work-life balance. Like what is mentioned above, stress can follow you home and that can affect the people around you. To have a better work-life balance doesn’t mean not working at home and not bringing anything home-related to the office. It is more than that. Start by having a better work ethic. That way, you are able to accomplish your workload more efficiently. Stress will always be there, but because your work ethic is strong, then stress won’t impact you much. Once you’ve established that, make sure to take a step back and unwind. Allow your body and mind to re-energize. You deserve it.
