World Mental Health Day: David’s thoughts on why this is so important
With it being World Mental Health Day this week I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect on the importance of mental health to me. One thing that I have come to realise as I’ve got older is that everyone is carrying some mental baggage (usually a few suitcases) that at any one point in time can affect the way they behave and/or what they produce at work. Workplace ‘issues’ are rarely black and white and so a consistent goal we have at Avyse is to create and maintain an environment where staff are comfortable talking about their mental state. This goal is firmly connected to two of our four values – authenticity and family first. If we can truly (and consistently) nail these values then I think we will make progress on this goal.
I recognise that many people have had to deal with far more serious issues but for me personally there have been a number of consistent themes that have challenged me mentally over the last couple of years:
Lack of in person interaction at work. To go from every day in the office (or client site) to virtually nothing was harder than I thought it would be. I get energy from meeting and interacting with people. I enjoy sharing jokes and for want of a better phrase ‘messing around’. Zoom and Teams simply don’t replicate this. I’m sure my wife will attest to this, but if I spend day after day working from home I get somewhat anxious, a little cranky and in some ways feel myself going a bit stir crazy. Nowadays I always try to spend a couple of days of the week meeting clients, prospects, Avyse staff, potential recruits etc. Sure, I will always need to write / review reports – where the best place is definitely home – but for me, the balance is important.
Juggling family and work life. My kids are three and one – add to that a new business! Time is a precious commodity and it’s rare a week goes by without me questioning whether I’m letting down my kids, my wife, or my business partners. Striking that perfect balance really is the holy grail. What I find helpful if doubt creeps in is to take a step back and look at the bigger picture rather than getting caught up in the weeds of a particular issue. Simple questions such as - are Aisha and the kids ok? What has the business achieved in the last 18 months? – help me maintain a sense of perspective. And being comfortable to say “I’m not around for a couple of hours whilst I do nursery pick up, bath, books and bed” certainly helps maintain a sense of balance.
If the work environment is leading to frustrations (or worse) then do something about it. It is far from an unreasonable aspiration to enjoy going to work.
Lack of exercise. Through long periods of inactivity I felt sluggish, tired, unhealthy – all of which affected me mentally. Although there are obvious physical benefits of exercise, I hadn’t quite appreciated the mental benefits of working out. A lot of my more creative ideas come directly after a workout when my mind is racing. I always feel better post exercise and so it has shot up my list of priorities due to the positive mental outcomes.
We committed to 5 things this time last year as part of world mental health day. By way of update we have delivered on 4 of them. The outstanding one relates to our staff survey. With us adding to our ranks relatively regularly we wanted to give staff the chance to bed in and be able to come up with meaningful feedback as part of the survey. So this is very much still on our agenda. We have two main goals regarding mental health at Avyse. The first, as mentioned earlier is to create and maintain an environment where staff are comfortable talking about their mental state. The second is for mental health to be treated the same as physical health.
Mental health is incredibly important. It unlocks so much potential. We’ve made good progress at Avyse, but there’s still lots to do and we certainly won’t be resting on our laurels. Go well.
David
