Check out episode 5, now on Spotify!
Last week’s episode was quite a heavy one, with a lot of shocking facts and just generally a lot of information to process.
So, I thought this week, before exploring the horrors of food ethics, I would focus an episode on our wellbeing, checking in with ourselves and finding ways to look after our wellbeing.
QUICK REMINDER
All-important protective facemasks helping to prevent the spread of Covid 19.
Regulations regarding these are different in different countries, but wearing them especially on public transport, and in shops etc. is super important.
BUT Please Bear in Mind…
Disposable face masks don’t disappear when you throw them away and forget about them, those disposable facemasks are going to outlive us.
I just wanted to offer the reminder of investing in a reusable face mask as opposed to the disposable alternative which contains plastic and is incredibly damaging for the planet
If you want to hear more about this, have a listen to the plastics episode as we look much deeper into the problems and solutions to plastic pollution.
If every person in the UK wore a single-use plastic facemask every day for a year, it could create 66,000 tonnes of contaminated waste and 57,000 tonnes of plastic packaging, together making up a huge 124,000 tonnes in total.
If you can, please purchase a reusable alternative, it really will make a massive difference, plus they’re more personal. I find them much more comfortable and in the long run it’s so much more cost effective. #
Here is where I got my reusable mask from, handmade by Chloe: https://www.instagram.com/whichstitches/
This episode feels really important especially now whilst we are in the middle of a pandemic, faced with a lot of uncertainty, worrying for the health of friends and family, isolation, concerns about your industry etc.
Finding ways to look after mental health although should always be held as a high priority, it is even more crucial to check in with our mental health during these times.
Quite often, our mental health is something we only really think about when it starts to deteriorate, or issues start to arise in our lives leading to more stress/worry/anxiety.
Analogy No 1
You don’t wait until you develop a cavity, or until your teeth start to fall out before you decide it’s important to brush your teeth, you know the value of brushing them at least every morning and every night, just to help make sure they stay healthy.
The same thing applies with your mental health. We cant only start to acknowledge our mental health when it becomes a problem in our lives, our mental health is with us throughout our entire lives and it’s state will fluctuate from day to day, minute to minute at times. So its important we check in with ourselves more often and find things that work for us to help look after our wellbeing.
Analogy No 2
If every night before I go to bed, I do a bit of a tidy up/de-clutter, then it tends to stay a bit more tidy, and manageable. But if I completely neglect it, you can see how quickly things start to get out of place, and cluttering up your space.
It becomes very overwhelming to begin to tidy up because it’s hard to even know where to start.
So with our mental wellbeing, if we factor a bit of time into each day, to do things that can help bring us joy, keeps us focused, to check in with how we are feeling, this can really help not only prevent escalation of negative emotions, but also help us develop strong strategies to help us in times where our mental health is in a more challenging place.
My mental wellbeing is something I’ve really had to work on and find ways to support since my early teenage years, and it’s come with a lot of trial and error.
A quick mention about something I’ve found very impactful on my mental health, and also something really important at the moment:
The news and social media, assessing ‘how much is too much for you?’
This applies to many areas and types of content
General social media streams of information, climate info, Covid19 updates, social justice movements, many other world events.
It’s incredibly important to keep ourselves informed, educate ourselves and know what’s going on as this helps motivate us to make better choices to protect lives of others and help the planet.
However, it’s also important to notice the impact on your wellbeing in comparison to the knowledge you are gaining.
You want to stay in a place where you feel motivated to make positive change, and not defeated, hopeless and overwhelmed.
I found that because of my personality, I want to do everything all at once, learn as much as I can and try to bring about whatever positive change I can, but there’s so much to learn, and ways to educate others, I wanted to find a way to keep this continuous and sustainable, so the momentum doesn’t die out, because it’s crucial that it doesn’t die out!!!
I have found that dedicating some time each day, or however frequent feels manageable, to research and educate myself about incredibly important issues like BLM, the environment, intersectionality, what’s happening in Yemen for example and updates on COVID19 regulations.
It's so important we take a step away from our ego, and recognise the parts of ourselves we may not have wanted to admit were there, for example for me this was realising my ignorance to the extent of white privilege in society and how that is bringing so much oppression and injustice, it’s important we allow ourselves to recognise this so we can move forward and advocate change.
I don’t think anyone would want to consider themselves racist but that isn’t enough to confirm we haven’t displayed racism.
Being anti-racist is crucial, as just because you may not actively display racism in a conscious intent to harm, doesn’t mean you aren’t still complicit, for example through benefiting from a society build on the foundations of white privilege, and not actively trying to change that system.
As a white person, I am benefiting from a system that is oppressing others, and if we are not pushing back against that and actively trying to change that then we are complicit in an unjust society condoning racism.
It’s so important to become aware of these things, and channel our energy into learning how we can do better.
Speak with people, have the uncomfortable conversations because without doing these things how can we learn to do better?
I just want to quickly mention the importance of being able to manage our emotions in these areas also, rather than emotions interfering with our ability to make change happen, and impacting on our mental health.
This is something I’ve experience a lot; there’s a risk of burn out if you don’t look after yourself or have an outlet for your emotions.
Taking time to look after our mental health is so important. I know this can be really challenging.
I find it can feel selfish to take time to look after ourselves when there are so many terrible things happening in the world, but if we haven’t taken time to look after our own wellbeing, how can we be in a position to help others and continue to do so?
The Lagom Outlook on Wellbeing
Sustainable happiness - It’s not about striving for heightened levels of joy, fun and excitement all the time.
It’s about finding this underlying contentment, appreciation for what you have and accepting difficult feelings when they arise.
How do you define happiness? What does it mean to you to be happy?
It may be important to shift your expectation of ‘happy’, so it doesn’t become this tangible, material thing we try to strive for, leading to a lost sense of appreciation in the little things, and in being present that actually brings a lot of joy.
As much as we may like it to be, happiness it’s not a constant, and its much deeper than thinking ‘when I get X, Y, or Z then I’ll truly be happy’. This idea that when I get my dream job, or perfect partner, or house etc. then I’ll be happy. This is very rarely the case, as it doesn’t really work like that.
“There are always flowers for those who want to see them” Henri Matisse
This quote draws attention to this idea of perspective, and how perspective shapes your experience.
Growth mindset vs fixed mindset
“When things don’t go as planned, take the opportunity to practice the acceptance of failure, reflect on what you’ve learned and keep that with you, you will likely do much better the next time that situation arises” Linnea Dunn.
That way you build resilience, develop more skills, self-awareness and acceptance, and have more freedom to be creative and less self-blocking.
Failure is inevitable and there’s so much to learn from it.
I love the how to fail podcast with Elizabeth day, as it explores people’s failures and how important they were in who they went on to become and what they achieved. Lovely way to re-frame failure.
Importance of being outdoors and having a connection to nature is also something really valued in the Lagom law. In such a technological world we have become so disconnected from living things and the natural world, taking time to reconnect really does wonders for our health.
MOVEMENT
In Lagom, the thinking veers towards the idea of motion as opposed to exercise – moving in nature and in a way that feels good is definitely a way to boost feelings of wellbeing.
It’s so valuable to incorporate movement into your every day.
You don’t have to be running a marathon or taking spin classes to gain the wonderful benefits of moving your body, but of course if you enjoy those things go ahead!!!
What ways could you find to move your body this week that you look forward to and enjoy?
Some of the things I’ve found useful:
Time for you – Hal Elrod miracle morning – 6 steps to set you up for the day.
6 steps may feel like a lot and they might not all be useful for you, but I have found some of the steps have made it regularly into my morning, or at least helped me form more of a routine for my morning which helps me feel more ready to approach the day ahead.
The way you start your day can really set a tone for how it means to go on. If you want to see all the steps, check out the podcast episode, or you can read his book.
I am very much a morning person, I tend to be more productive earlier in the day, so I do try to incorporate quite a few things in, especially over lockdown, and it has really helped my wellbeing.
These include:
Moving my body – looks different on different days – yoga, run, walk, dance, cycle.
Writing - Set intentions for the day, express gratitude. Affirmation. Stream of consciousness writing to get thoughts out of my head.
I’m a massive advocate of breakfast. I’d be incredibly moody without it, really helps energy levels, especially as a dancer if you are going off to work you will have a morning class, so not having breakfast before that would not be good. It’s also so nice to have that time to eat my breakfast in the morning, either in silence, listening to a podcast or with someone in the house.
Sometimes I read a bit in the morning – this was definitely more the case when I had a more structured work schedule – because I’m a dancer and my job is very active, I probably wouldn’t exercise before I went to work, so that time would be reading time instead, but now that’s swapped around.
Other things that help my wellbeing:
Time for those close to you. We are social beings. Genuine connections with others are important.
It’s okay to say no sometimes. Something I still find really challenging to do, but something we all need to become more comfortable doing to help prevent burn out.
Non-passive down time is a must for me because of my overactive/loud internal dialogue. Things like going for walks, yoga, reading, podcasts while tidying, doodling/writing.
Take a break
Moving my body– so much research now supporting link between mental and physical wellbeing and how they impact on each other. I have always loved being active – sports and dance in school, dance training, love running, yoga, dancing, walking etc. importance of focus on how you feel and what your body can do than what it looks like. Period in my life growing up where I couldn’t be physically active, and because of this, I’m so grateful now for having the possibility to move my body and the wonderful benefits it brings.
Eating well!!! Always emergency batch cooked meals in freezer so after a long, busy/stressful day, there’s still a nice homemade meal waiting for me.
Being in nature
It’s okay to ask for help/support when you need it. Whether that’s friends, family, going to your GP or getting in touch with charities like mind.
Social media – only follow who you like, who brings positivity, who challenges the way you think. NOT things that make you feel inadequate/insecure/comparative/unworthy
Don’t try everything at once! Maybe a couple, or one at a time and stick at it for a little while to see if it makes a positive difference for you. If it does, see how you can make it a part of your daily/weekly routine. If not, pick something else to try until you find the things that work for you.
What works may also change over time and that’s okay, but I hope some of these options can be useful, or at least encourage you to question what makes you feel content, explore what can bring you some joy and support your wellbeing.
A lovely exercise in Fearne Cotton’s book ‘Happy’ is to write a list of the things that make you happy. They can be the littlest of things, but I’d definitely advise doing this task when you have a spare 5 minutes.
What ways do you try to support your wellbeing? Is it something you’ve thought much about before?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and reflections, feel free to drop me an email: alittlebitoflagom@gmail.com
or drop me a message on Instagram @alittlebitoflagom.
Resources
Mind website - https://www.mind.org.uk/
LagomMind podcast:
Happy Place Podcast:
How to Fail Podcast:
Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning:
Elrod, H (2020). The Miracle Morning. Available at: https://miraclemorning.com/
Better Than Yesterday (2016). The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod (animated book summary) – How to Create a Morning Routine. Available at:
Movement and Wellbeing:
Contractor, A (2017). Benefits of Exercise. TEDx Youth. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQeZnyQnlSM
Suzuki, W (2018). The brain changing benefits of exercise. TEDx. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHY0FxzoKZE
Disposable Face Mask Info:
Check out the episode on Spotify!
Whoever is reading this, I’m wishing you well wherever you are!