The A-Z Of Wellbeing – W

This month the A-Z of Wellbeing is looking at the letter W. So grab a cuppa and settle in and lets begin.

W

Walking – I talk about walking all the time, I love it and it is the simplest form of exercise you can do. You don’t need any specialist equipment, just a good pair of walking shoes or trainers. As long as your feet are comfy then away you go. Walking is very good for your mental health. Not just the action of it but using your senses to enjoy the outdoors helps you to stay present. What is it that you can hear? Are the birds chirping away as you walk by or the wind blowing through the trees making the leaves rustle. Perhaps you are close to the sea can smell and almost taste the salty air. Can you see the waves crashing on the shore or watch the crabs pop up out of the rock pools? If you live in the city and have no greenery around you, notice the buildings, their shapes and colours and if they stand tall in the skyline. You could take a moment whilst on your walk to pause and look up at the sky. Are there lots of clouds or is the sky blue, perhaps it’s raining and you watch the rain pass over and feel it on your face. Walking each day does wonders for your mental health. Take some time out and just walk, explore where you live, try other places, enjoy what you see, hear, can touch and smell. Why not keep a walking journal of all the things your senses come across. You may do the same walk each day, but I am pretty sure you will have a different experience each time. So pop your shoes on and get walking.

Wellbeing – Your whole self and how you feel both mentally and physically. Are you good at looking after yourself and taking care of your own needs? Or do you tend to put your own wellbeing on the back burner as you care for those around you? Looking after yourself is important. We often ignore signs that our mental wellbeing requires attention and push down the feelings when we are not ok. If you injured your leg and it required stiches you would get this seen to straight away and wouldn’t walk about with a gaping wound on your leg accepting it. When you don’t feel right mentally, it can be hard to describe how you are feeling to someone else. But I would always recommend you try. You don’t have to feel or be alone, speak to anyone you wish and ask for help if you need it. No-one in this world is happy 100% of the time and our wellbeing does and will dip from time to time and that’s ok. It only becomes a problem if you are having more down days that up days. Please seek help if you are and speak to your GP as they will help. Your wellbeing is your wealth so please do look after you.

Workload – Are you good at saying no when your workload gets too much? Or do you keep going until you feel overwhelmed and unsure where to start? It can be easy to say yes to tasks and then not realise when you have too much to do and are at a place of overwhelm. So what can we do to prevent us from getting to this state in the first place? If you can recognise when you are overloaded or are struggling to complete the tasks you already have, this is usually a good sign you need help. If the workload is coming from your manager, chat with them about what the priorities are so you can focus on what is really important to finish. To do lists can grow quickly, delegate where possible if you can. Block out time in your calendar to focus on the task in hand and don’t try to do everything at once as you will end up feeling even more under pressure as you do a little here and there. We do tend to thrive on a little pressure, however when the scales tip and you feel constantly under pressure, then you probably should speak up and say you have too much and say no politely to more work or not now.

These are only a handful of words beginning with W. I’m sure you can think of a few more.

Have a great week, take care and look after you.

Love Emma xx