How I used one of my well-being days! – Jo Hayes, Talent Development Partner
I’m not always the best at practising what I preach, and the umpteen different ways that I preach wellbeing throughout my workshops, coaching and courses would have you believe that I am the world’s best at prioritising my own.
But I’m not. And like many of us, while I have experienced, lived and loved the benefits of yoga and pilates; and felt mentally and physically on top of the world after a good 10k run; and been more energised and creative after taking an actual lunch break, I quickly forget all of this when I’m deep into real life stuff.
When I joined Stowe in January, part of the employee proposition was having 2 wellbeing days a year, and I remember thinking at the time it was an interesting benefit, on top of a pretty decent annual leave allowance and dynamic working, but I wasn’t sure what or how I’d make use of these days. Then I booked one.
Well, safe to say my being feels incredibly well today as a result. I’m an extrovert, probably a big reason I do the job I do, I love being around people and feel incredibly energised by doing so. I struggle to say no to any invitations because my entire driver for who I am pushes me in that direction, but that can mean that I have intense weeks of full-on people-focused stuff – and not just when I’m doing the people-focused stuff but also when I’m at home, creating that content, or randomly during the night when I wake up with a great idea.
The impact of being an emotionally driven extrovert is that burn out can happen in the blink of an eye, I will keep going and going and going and then all of a sudden, I’m not going anymore. This would be all well and good if I didn’t have courses in the diary and people waiting to be coached, and I do. So, my burnout doesn’t just affect me and Rumpleteazer the cat, it affects others.
So, I decided to be proactive this year, and knowing that my birthday weekend was likely to be very busy, and the few weeks leading up to it had a fair bit of travel and delivery in it, I decided to book one of these wellbeing days.
Now, I could have booked a spa day, but I know myself well, and that much time without any sort of stimulation would drive my brain mad and just one day isn’t enough for that. I book solo holidays to help my brain work through all that over the course of several days. No, this wellbeing day had to be stimulating enough but solo, busy enough, but relaxing and give me enough physical activity to produce the endorphins (and sadly Magic Mike was fully booked up) but not too physical that I needed a day off to recover.
My wellbeing day therefore looked like this … Direct train to London from Mirfield at a not too early time in the morning with a cheeky seatfrog upgrade so I had a whole 2 and half hours to enjoy my book in the peace and quiet and with some beautiful sunny scenery, then once in London a free visit to the Natural History Museum! I think I was about 16 or maybe even younger last time I visited! And I’ll be honest, the 16-year-old me fully geeked out. All the dinosaur stuff and the dodo skeleton! Forget the kids, I think more adults should go!
Then after a few hours just enjoying learning about really fascinating parts of our natural history I headed into the West End. I remember seeing the sign for the Mouse Trap on my Theatre Studies A Level trip in 1996 when I was just 17 and it had been going for 44 years at that point, and despite going on to get a Theatre Studies degree I had never seen it! So, a matinee production called my name. Oh, and it was brilliant! But no spoilers here.
Finally, a little solo dinner in Covent Garden, no time limits, just me, my kindle and a chicken schnitzel.
As I say, it doesn’t come easy to me to take wellbeing time, so having 2 days a year where that is the primary focus absolutely drove my decision to be so proactive about my mental and physical wellbeing. It’s not time to just tag on to annual leave, and it’s not in place of illness absence, it’s a proactive opportunity to put your own physical and mental wellbeing first so that you and your colleagues feel the benefits.
And getting back into work yesterday I felt really invigorated and energised – as well as feeling really cared about.
So, well done on making it through my essay and why not take the time and prioritise your own well-being just as I’ve been lucky enough to do.
