Your Mental Health Matters

This post is inspired by Day 11: Be Healthy of my book, Confidently You. Experiencing better mental health is just as important as accomplishing your career goals. Keeping your skills recharged can lead to experiencing career burnout. I am speaking from experience. My skills recharged journey started when I launched my blog, Career Tipper that evolved to include an iPhone affirmations app, published book, and the podcast while working a 9-5. It was vital to me to fully commit to the discovery and learning process of fine tuning my vision for Career Tipper and practicing what I was coaching others to do to keep their skills recharged. The wins and lessons from these endeavors were humbling and kept me motivated to stay the course. 

What I didn’t factor in was sufficient rest. Pacing myself was a massive area of growth for me. It all eventually took a toll on me that I did not want to acknowledge. I didn’t want to be viewed as a quilter, lazy, or not committed to accomplishing my goals. 

It wasn’t until I attended A Sister Siesta hosted by Well Rested Working Woman Jasmin Forts that I embraced her mission to lead by example that real professionals rest. It was an aha moment in many ways. It was nourishing to meet and listen to the ladies share their restoration journey that included career burnout for some. I left encouraged and empowered to pursue the process for myself that included working with a licensed therapist. 

My initial therapy sessions started by utilizing my employers’ employee assistance program (EAP). Therapy became a healing salve that I didn’t know that I needed, yet grateful that I could access it to help me transform into my best self for where I am in my life today in my journey of life. During the pandemic, many affordable therapy resources have increased in their availability. Professionals are experiencing career grief from job loss to workplace defeats to adjusting to career advancement for some, pending the demands of a role. Regardless of the root cause, I perceive that it is essential to process the emotion that may negatively impact your life through your communication, action, or productivity level. 

Mental health is self-care. Self-care foundationally represents a form of honesty. It is an honest portrayal of how we value ourselves and an authentic demonstration of our self-worth that only we have a front-row seat to observe, process, and alter as we deem necessary. Your focus on your mental health may lead you to spend more time resting, exploring different meditation options, and reevaluating your current self-care plan. It helps if you extended grace to yourself when you need it. Avoiding the temptation to make familiar choices that no longer serve you is a game-changer. You may not recognize yourself during the process. It may get ugly, address the perceptions and truths that reveal themselves and get to the root cause and the why.  

SHRM, Society for Human Resource Management, published an article, Viewpoint: 9 Trends That Will Shape Work in 2021 and Beyond. “Mental health support is the new normal. Across the last several years, employers have offered new benefits to support their employees, for instance, expanded parental leave. Even before the pandemic, Gartner research revealed that 45% of well-being budget increases were being allocated to mental and emotional well-being programs. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought well-being to the forefront as employers are more aware than ever how of the impact of mental health on employees and by association, the workplace.

By late March, 68% of organizations had introduced at least one new wellness benefit to aid employees during the pandemic. In 2021, employers will go even further by working to de-stigmatize mental health by expanding mental health benefits, creating days where they shut the entire company down for a day to offer “a collective mental health day” to build awareness across the workforce about this critical issue.”

Stay committed to taking the time to regulate or upping the ante on your self-care more unapologetically.