Let’s talk wellbeing … with Kasia Waters

With the month of New Year’s resolutions slipping away, it’s safe to say we can all be guilty of letting focus on our wellbeing slip.

This month we’re sharing wellbeing stories from people across the business to help inspire you, and give you a few ideas on how to prioritise your own wellbeing as well as support others.

We caught up with Kasia Waters, People Support Consultant who’s been doing a fantastic job of supporting her colleagues and highlighting the importance of putting focus on our mental health.

“Looking after my mental health is so important to me because it shapes how happy I feel and how much I enjoy life. It helps me to deal with stressful situations and I feel more positive. I also feel more productive which means I can do my best at work, and I have more energy to play with my 3 year old son and enjoy time with family.

To help others, each week, I’ve been sharing tips, my favourite techniques and mental health resources with my team by email, and I always try to do a bit of extra research in my own time to make sure the support I’m giving is topical and interesting.

I believe supporting each other is so important so that people know that they are not on their own. I also recently spoke at the People Services huddle to raise awareness of mental health and am looking forward to joining the People team coffee morning to share a few ideas on how to prioritise wellbeing. 

When it comes to looking after my own wellbeing I’ve been making sure I go out walking with my dog every lunchtime – even in the rain and cold. No excuses. It helps me refresh my mind, manage stressful situations and allows me to enjoy nature. I’ve also been getting up 15 minutes earlier, since just before Christmas, so I can fit in 10 or 15 minutes of exercise which makes me feel more energetic and positive and is a great way to start my day.

I’m also a great believer in the power of sleep and getting a good 7-9 hours a night. I try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day and have a reminder on my phone which goes off 30 minutes before I need to go to bed which really helps. To help me sleep I tend to write down all the things that are worrying me to help stop my mind racing. I now realise that if something worries me and I can do something about it , I should do it straight away or make a plan, and if it’s something I can’t control, I should let it go, and distract myself by doing something I enjoy. I’ve also found that deep breathing can help to deal with stressful situations or worries – I’ve started to build it into my day every morning before I start work.

I personally spend ‘Me Time’ having a nice long bath, reading a book, watching a movie of my choice, doing a jigsaw puzzle, calling a friend or reflecting on my day and thinking about what I am grateful for and what lessons I have learnt.

Taking holiday is also so important even if it only involves staying at home and baking brownies with my son or making paper zoo animals.

If I had to give one top tip for positive mental health … it would be to try and think of at least three things you are grateful for every day. It can be anything from family, friends, achievements at work, a nice walk in the park, a song that you heard on the radio which made you do a little dance, or a nice email from a colleague. Anything big or small that made you happy. Daily gratitude can make our thinking more positive and train our brain to scan the world for positives, rather than negatives.

The best way to see the full benefit of it is to turn it into a habit. Choose a task that you do every day like brushing your teeth or eating dinner which will be your trigger for thinking/writing down your daily gratitude. If you forget to do it one day though, don’t worry about it, just try to do it the next day. 

My recommendations:

• Action for Happiness website where you can find resources such as happiness calendar, webinars, and info on their app – https://www.actionforhappiness.org/

• 10 days of Happiness which is a free online coaching programme provided by Action for Happiness – https://10daysofhappiness.org/

• TED talk by Matthew Walker, a sleep specialist –                       https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_6_tips_for_better_sleep                        https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_walker_how_sleep_affects_your_emotions

• TED Talk by Shawn Anchor on Happiness –             https://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work

• Calm or Headspace where you can learn about meditation – these apps have some limited free content but if you want to use the full content, paid subscription is required. I have been using the Calm App for over a year now. It is great for meditation, it has some great sleep stories for adults and kids, as well as interesting master classes and space to reflect and write how your day has been, how you have been feeling and what you are grateful for.

Remember, if you would like to speak to someone about any worries you have visit The Insider for all support available to you, including access to our Employee Support Programme, a confidential, 24/7 support service.