Tag: self care

Wellbeing in difficult times

July 19, 2021 / Marie Kendall-Waters / 0 Comments

Festival of Inclusivity & Wellbeing resources with a £100 prize draw for completing a personalised wellbeing reflection tool

With the impact of the global pandemic continuing to dominate the academic year 2020/21, including a variety of lockdowns and restrictions profoundly affecting everyday and working life, it has been an extraordinarily challenging year. How has the year been for you?

As this challenging year draws to a close, take some time to pause, reflect and engage with wellbeing and inclusion resources, and you could win Amazon vouchers worth up to £100.

Complete the Wellbeing in Difficult Times One Year On tool and be eligible for a prize draw.

A small independent University of Portsmouth research group, led by Head of Wellbeing, Dr Denise Meyer, has been investigating how staff and students at the University have been coping during the pandemic.

Staff interviewed about using the original Wellbeing in Difficult Times tool in July 2020 reported finding it interesting and thought-provoking. They particularly valued the personalised feedback they received and felt it helped them better consider their own wellbeing.

By completing the updated personalised wellbeing tool one year on you will:

Have an opportunity to pause and reflect on aspects of your own wellbeing, coping strategies and resilience during this challenging year.
Get automatic personalised feedback about your answers to the standardised measures one year on, with suggestions for how to maintain or improve your wellbeing.
Help to further test the tool for evaluating future interventions to support staff and student wellbeing, such as the Festival of Inclusivity & Wellbeing described below.
Be able to enter a prize draw for Amazon vouchers, as a thank you for taking the 20-30 minutes to complete it – with a top prize of £100, 2 x £75, 3 x £50, 4 x £25.

The team would like a wide range of perspectives, and we hope to have good representation from participants with minority identities who can provide feedback about their experiences around inclusion at the University – for example, international students/staff, BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) students/staff, LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning) students/staff, students/staff with neurodiversity, disability or specific learning difficulty.

Your responses will be dealt with anonymously and confidentially. Full information about the development of the survey tool and wider research programme, and about privacy and confidentiality, is provided at the start of the survey before the consent section. The survey has already been shared again with students.

Festival of Inclusivity and Wellbeing

Catch up with the popular keynotes and sessions from the Festival of Inclusivity & Wellbeing

The opening address on ‘Building a sense of belonging in a compassionate, inclusive learning community’ launched our first Festival of Inclusivity and Wellbeing with a hands-on introduction to our unique whole-institution approach to wellbeing and inclusion – the Learning, Teaching and Working Well framework. The framework promotes a compassionate mindset towards self and others which recognises the emotional impact of learning, work and life challenges and the central role of a sense of belonging in helping to meet these challenges and flourish. The rest of the Festival offered sessions aiming to build hands-on skills related to this framework.

Recordings of this and all the other sessions are now available on the Festival website. Staff who were able to attend the Festival on 12 May used words like ‘inspiring’, ‘thought provoking’ and ‘soothing’ for the various keynotes, workshops and wellbeing sessions they attended.

Why not bookmark this Self-care Break page of 5-minute wellbeing taster sessions as a resource to dip into when you need a break during the working day? You can choose from mindfulness, hand massage, chair yoga, laughter, and mindful movement. Or catch up on some of the sessions listed below.

The inspiring keynote by Dr Doyin Atewologun, an internationally recognised expert on leadership, diversity, intersectionality and organisation culture, on ‘Leading the way to a more inclusive university community’ comes highly recommended from those who attended it. Or catch up on other popular sessions like:

Managing stress, anxiety and burnout – including an introduction to the SilverCloud and Togetherall online resources
Understanding how racism affects us all and how to be an ally
Understanding restorative practice – skills for preventing and healing conflict
Learning more about mental health and wellbeing – including skills for self-compassion and an introduction to the Recovery College
An introduction to UoP staff networks

There are also sessions for academic and other student-facing staff:

Student experiences of inclusion and wellbeing with guest speaker Maisha Islam
Creating brave learning spaces
Universal design for learning and assistance technology – creating an inclusive classroom
Accessible and inclusive examinations and assessments
Report, support and safeguard – managing disclosures of serious issues
Cultural competence for academic staff
Learning Well resources – establishing a community of practice for wellbeing and inclusion in the curriculum

The last day for updating the personalised wellbeing tool is Saturday 31st July 2021.

Another 6 months of working from home – don’t panic!

October 26, 2020 / Marie Kendall-Waters / 0 Comments

2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year. With the latest announcements and guidance from the government, plus the extension of working remotely for many of us, it’s inevitably starting to take it’s toll. For some working from home is challenging and can often feel daunting and very isolating. Not everyone is tech-savvy and with the use of more and more new technologies, particularly in higher education to teach, learn and to simply communicate with our colleagues, it can feel quite overwhelming. With the added bonus of the pressures of family life thrown in, it’s important to look out for each other and most importantly take time out for you!

Finding the balance

Working days seem longer since lockdown and our workloads have increased, with ongoing pressures and deadlines, it can feel like we are drowning in constant emails and online meetings. So what can be done? What little things can we do, to take some control back in our lives? How do we find the balance between work and life?

Back at the beginning of lockdown, we put together some Top Tips from TEL to help our followers on social media (and us), adjust to this new way of working. For many of us we will be continuing working from home for the foreseeable future, with this in mind we thought it might be useful to revisit them, before the panic takes over!

Take regular breaks

It’s important to make sure we take time away from our screens during our busy days (something I’m especially guilty of not doing!). It’s not only good for our mental and physical health but also good for our productivity. It’s better to have shorter breaks more often from your workstation than longer breaks less often. Try to schedule in a short walk, an exercise or a short meditation session.

Create a dedicated workspace

We’ve become remote workers overnight and it’s often difficult to find ‘space’ in our homes to work. Some of us are fortunate to have a spare room which we can transform into a quiet office space. Others have created a workspace at their dining room tables. It’s important to create a dedicated workspace where you are able to work from home – this way you can feel like you are at work even if you aren’t physically in the office.

Write a to-do list

Write a to-do list at the start of every week, this is a must for me. It not only helps you to plan out your week but also to prioritise your tasks. Try and achieve one thing on your list, don’t be surprised if it all goes at the window. At the end of the day reflect on what happened, what went right, think positively. Don’t beat yourself up – tomorrow is another day!

Don’t panic if you get disconnected

I think we’ve all experienced this when working remotely. Things aren’t working quite like you thought they would and it’s easy to panic – but don’t! All technologies can be glitchy at times. Remember, if you lose connections, maybe a video conference, don’t worry – everyone is in the same boat and we’ll muddle through together.

Don’t lose contact with
your work colleagues

As I’ve mentioned above, working from home can often feel isolating. It’s important to keep in contact with our colleagues for our own well-being. Although we are all experiencing this crazy year together, we are all in very different circumstances with very different pressures. Some may be thriving under this new way of working and living, others may be struggling – it’s important to reach out, be kind and support one another.

Remember the 20-20-20 rule

Suffering from headaches and sore eyes since working from home is common, which is often the result of too much screen time. Remember to practice the 20-20-20 rule: 20 minutes on-screen needs a 20-second break during which you should blink 20 times. Give it a go!

Make sure to clock off
and switch off

Our working days have increased. We are starting work earlier and turning off our computers well into the night. We seem to be working more hours than ever before. It’s important for our mental health and wellbeing that we don’t burn out! Make sure that you try and have regular breaks from your screen throughout the day and log off when your working day is over. Turn off notifications on your phones to make sure that when you do clock off, you also switch off. Work/Life balance is hard to juggle when we are stuck indoors but being mindful to separate both mentally is essential.

Learn to deal with distractions

There are often distractions with working remotely. However, when the whole family are also thrown into the mix, learning not to be distracted can feel like an impossible task. Try to tackle things in small chunks and if you can’t achieve everything that you set out to in the day, then there’s always the next day. Don’t feel ashamed to call on your colleagues, friends or family to help out if they are able to. Be understanding of one another and take everything one step at a time.

Make time for exercise

Whatever your go-to exercise, it’s important to factor some into your day. It’s not only good for your body, but it also keeps your mind healthy. Exercise is the miracle cure we’ve always had! If you can’t get to a gym, then there are lots of online videos that can help you carry out home workouts, such as Joe Wicks, the nation’s favourite PE teacher and our own UoP Sport and Recreations Facebook page.

Work when you’re at your most productive

Nobody rushes through their work from morning to night – your motivation will naturally dip and rise throughout the day. When we are working from home, however, it’s more important to know when those dips and rises will take place and plan your schedule around them. To make the most of productive periods, save your harder tasks for when you know you’ll be in the right headspace for them. Slower points of the day for easier tasks.

Take time out – reflect on
how far you’ve come and
how much you’ve achieved!

Take some time out, even if it’s ten minutes in the day, be grateful for the small things in life and reflect on how far you’ve come and how much you’ve achieved this year. You’ll be surprised at how productive you have been!

Don’t be afraid to ask

Lots of new tools and technologies to learn, new terminology, head full of pedagogy, best practice and resources and zero time to do anything – can often feel overwhelming. As a team, TEL, offer lots of useful training sessions to help you get to grips with online teaching, we also offer 1-2-1 sessions and we can be contacted via email, or video call if you have a question – so please don’t be afraid to ask – just contact us!

And most importantly . . .
Be kind to yourself

One of the most difficult things to practice and that’s putting ourselves first and being kind to ourselves. It’s often hard to schedule some time in the day especially if you have a busy work and family life. However, a bath at the end of the day, meditation, a short exercise session, reading a book, listening to music are all ways we can take time out for ourselves.

It’s been a challenging time for us all and we may find some days are more productive than others. We’ve all had to adapt to a new routine since March, a new way of working and living. Make sure to take time out for yourself and always remember tomorrow is another day. Yes we may have to do this for a little bit longer, but we have shown that we are able to.

You may not think it but you’re doing great!

21 day self care challenge – the result

May 21, 2020 / Marie Kendall-Waters / 0 Comments

At the beginning of social distancing, I envisaged that lockdown was definitely going to be a challenge for my little family, however I never anticipated how difficult it would get! Trying to work from home, both myself and my husband, homeschooling our 4 year old, whilst trying to entertain our 2 year old (who is currently in the throws of the ‘tantrum-y terrible twos’), breaking up on-going sibling punch ups, whilst trying to keep some kind of sanity – yep it was going to be tough! Forever the optimist though, and at times, yes it has been super challenging, we managed to juggle through everything and try to remain positive and safe.

As if I didn’t have enough to concentrate on, I decided to take on the 21 day self care challenge (please see my ‘Isolation motivation – are you up for a challenge’ post for more info). I was looking for that zap of energy, I felt sluggish after being cooped up in the house for 4 weeks and was in need of some isolation motivation – so I accepted the challenge.

The challenge

The 21 day self care challenge included the following:

I had to choose 2 things to drop from my life over 21 days from the following list.

I choose:

All white carbs, or bread and,
Sugar (inc. sweets, chocolate and fruit juice)

And choose to add 2 things into my life over 21 days.

I chose:

Drink 2L of water per day and,
Extra 2,000 steps a day (try to get above 10,000 a day)

So how did I do? – Focusing on the positives . . .

At the beginning of the self care challenge, I lost someone very close to me to covid and another family member had contracted the virus whilst being in hospital. It was a hard time for me and my family and restrictions around funerals made it even tougher. What we were seeing on the news suddenly became our reality and it was very real for us. Not being able to be with loved ones at such a difficult time was hard.

I’ve always enjoyed exercise and going to the gym. Exercise has helped me in the past to gain focus and control during difficult times in my life and I was keen on getting back into it. I was in the middle of Joe Wick’s 90 day plan before I fell pregnant with my second child, but I was looking for a different type of exercise, ‘not a quick HITT’, something I could escape into. I always enjoyed running at school but hadn’t ran since then. I decided to download the Couch to 5K app and give it a try. To begin with I was anxious about being able to run again but now after 6 weeks using the app – I’m loving it! It’s helped to clear my mind and it’s given me some ‘me-time’ back. Some mornings I wake up and I can’t wait to run, it’s definitely lifted my spirits and helped my mental health.

I am now able to easily get above 10,000 steps and an extra 2,000 a day on my Fitbit. As I’m exercising more I’m also finding that I’m able to drink 2L of water per day. I have more energy and feel fitter in myself.

I’ve found it hard to cut out white carbs and sugar completely, so I eat them occasionally and monitor my food/drink intake – everything in moderation. We are all going to have bad days and slip ups – it’s just remembering to not be too hard on ourselves when we do and know that tomorrow is always another day to reboot and start being good again!

Lessons learned

What I have learnt from the 21 day self care challenge is to make time for me – something that is often hard to do especially when I have a young family. I’ve also dropped another thing from the list which I feel has helped me mentally. I’ve now permanently turned off my work app notifications, this is a huge thing for me as I’m a bit of a workaholic, but my ‘family time’ is no longer interrupted by work notifications on days when I’m not working. When I am working is when I deal with any notifications and only then.

Taking a step back from online chat has helped me to re-focus on my work and what I need to get done during the day. Having a busy and very noisy current working environment, it can often feel overwhelming – it’s full on 24/7. I’m finding it useful to make to-do lists and preparing as much as I can for each day, it helps me to stay on track with work and homeschooling and it helps the children if we have some kind of routine. If I’m able to tick off one thing on the list then I feel I’ve achieved at least one thing during the day. We are all going through our own rollercoaster of emotions and experiencing very different stresses during this unsettling time. Being kind to one another and being supportive is key to getting through this!

I’m glad I took on the 21 day self care challenge and I think it’s a useful tool to dip in and out of when you are feeling a bit low, particularly during lockdown and looking for some motivation. It’s helped me to get back on track after a difficult time and become stronger both mentally and physically. Isolating with children, working and homeschooling, all confined to the lounge can feel at times very exhausting and claustrophobic. The 21 day challenge has helped me to remember how crucial it is to take some time out for me, even if it is a short run and breathe!

Image credits:

Photo by Georgia de Lotz on Unsplash

Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash

Isolation motivation – are you up for a challenge?

April 16, 2020 / Marie Kendall-Waters / 4 Comments

We are now 4 weeks into social distancing, lockdown can feel isolating and it’s difficult to get used to this new way of living. We are missing socialising with our friends and family and it can often feel hard to feel productive when working from home – we’re trying to juggle lots of things at one time, whilst confined to our homes – it’s hard! Trying to find time to exercise regularly and eat the ‘right’ food takes effort, it’s easier to snack on sweet treats and binge watch box sets on Netflix. Are you feeling sluggish, could do with a zap of energy? Then why not try the 21-day-self-care challenge!

Want to know more?

Sodexo (the company that manages and maintains our Employee Benefits Platform) have teamed up with Simon Schmid, an experienced lifestyle coach, who will be helping Sodexo run a free ‘21-day self-care challenge’ from 20th April (this Monday coming!). The aim is to help us to increase our own self-care immediately with simple tools, strategies and personal challenges to get us through this difficult time. Sounds good right?

Apparently, there’s a rule that says:

So who’s up for it and what do we have to do?

There are 3 steps we have to follow on the 21-day-self-care challenge …

STEP 1

Open the self-care challenge list here and choose 2 things to drop from your life for 21 days from Monday 20th April.

For me it has to be:

All white carbs, or bread and,
Sugar (inc. sweets, chocolate and fruit juice)

Since lockdown we’ve been eating A LOT of white bread, so that’s definitely got to change. Easter hasn’t helped with the chocolate intake, we’ve been snacking more on the sweet stuff, which isn’t good, it’s going to be difficult as I have two little ones (a 2 year old and a 4 year old) and sometimes I need the SUGAR to get through the day lol! Since social distancing we haven’t had a takeaway, we don’t drink fizzy drinks, I could probably do with turning off my work-app notifications and not spending so much time on social media too. It’s pretty difficult to find just 2 things to drop!

STEP 2

Now choose 2 things you’d like to add into your life for 21 days from Monday 20th April.

Again for me, it has to be:

Drink 2L of water per day and,
Extra 2,000 steps a day (try to get above 10,000 a day)

I could definitely do with upping my water intake on a daily basis. It would also be good to do more regular exercise and set myself a challenge of increasing my daily steps on my Fitbit.

I’m pretty good with catching up with people and making sure everyone is ok and we are keeping daily journals of what we are doing through home-schooling apps and Instagram. However, I’m not so great on making time for ‘me’ but think that’s just a ‘Mum thing’ – I do think the exercise and water intake will help me to feel a bit more energised and motivated, which can only be a plus for me at the moment.

STEP 3

Start your individual journey with Sodexo and Simon on 20th April. They’ll be hosting bi-weekly videos from Simon including motivational talks, Q&A sessions and expert advice. They’ll also have a dedicated Facebook page for us to follow and interact with other challengers, which I’ll add to this post on Monday – so keep your eyes peeled!

So who’s going to join me?

Pop your 2 things you would drop and the 2 things you would add below in the comments. In 21 days time I’ll write another post reflecting on my 21-day-self-care challenge and how I got on – wish me luck and best of luck to those that are doing it with me!!

Update

Have you started your 21-day-self-care challenge? As promised here is a link to access the dedicated Facebook page for you to follow others taking on the challenge!

Tag: self care

Wellbeing in difficult times