October 10th was World Mental Health Day. This observance inspired me to start writing a blog about mental health and self-care. Let’s discuss how your resilience and self-care impacts your project and business success and your overall well-being in every facet of your life, including sponsorship, collaboration and revenue generation.
Simply put… Resilient people = More resilient projects and businesses.
When your well-being is a priority, it shows. You show up with more focus, energy, creativity and passion. You make better decisions, tending to be more responsive and less reactive. If things get bumpy, messy or go sideways, you navigate the challenges more effectively. How you show up impacts who you are being. This energy comes through in your conversations and relationships.
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My Experiences with Resilience
I had a longstanding career in mental health. In fact, my education was in social work, mental health, dispute resolution and correctional worker studies. I worked at mental health services and in a psychiatry unit. I also volunteered with my dog Toby at a mental health inpatient facility.
These experiences taught me a lot about resilience. Fast forward to 2018, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. This became the ultimate test of self-care for me. Putting my health and resilience first was a priority.
Then, just as surgeries and chemo treatments were coming to a close and my non-existent immune system started improving, the pandemic hit. It impacted us all in so many ways, including our business and mental health.
My Recommendations for Maintaining and Building Resilience
What kept me resilient during these times was:
- Nurturing a mindset of resilience—picturing myself every day as strong, healthy, happy, and healed.
- Getting enough sleep and even allowing myself to nap when my brain got tired or stress started to surface.
- Choosing the most important tasks to work on first.
- Asking for help.
- Prioritizing fresh air and being outside.
- Taking care of the “little pebbles”—taking care of the little things, so they didn’t become big things.
What are you doing to nurture and honour your self-care today and every day? Every little act of care adds to your resilience account (and then it’s there when you need it).