Work plays a significant role in shaping our self-identity, our health and wellbeing.

Even before the arrival of the global pandemic, there was much that wasn’t working well at work.

The pandemic simply serving to catalyse and bring about some of the much needed changes to make work not just more worthwhile, but something that keeps you healthy and happy.

A new framework published by the U.S Surgeon General has the potential to provide helpful guidelines to enable better workplace mental health and wellbeing.

And that’s got to be a very good thing.

If you get excited by seeing an albatross coming in to land at Dunedin, catching a glimpse of the Magnificent Fairy Wren or watching a penguin waddling across the Antarctic ice, you’re not alone.

Recent research has found that independent of the natural environment, seeing birds and hearing birdsong is uplifting, to the extent it can lift your mood for up to eight hours.

Sure, it’s great to feel less stressed, overwhelmed, or worried that you’re burning out, but the bigger issue here is your overall mental health and wellbeing.

For too long wellbeing has been presented in a fragmented and ad hoc way, which is why I was so excited by the recent release of the US General’s Framework for Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace.

It’s no secret. Our health system is beyond sick and has been ailing for some time.

It’s just that when an issue seems too big to change for the better, our natural inclination is to avoid making any decision to act and to hope someone else might clean up this mess.

The reality is, it’s up to all of us.

And we can.

You can.

By regaining your appetite for elephant and committing to the necessary changes, one bite at a time.

Workplace health and wellbeing is good for people and good for business when undertaken in a sustainable and holistic way that recognises that a generic one-size fits all, won’t cover everyone and that everybody needs to have their voice heard, so they can contribute to the greater good of all.

Practising the art of kindness, being inclusive, seeking connection and showing empathy provide the foundation to creating a workplace founded on looking out for and caring for each other.

It’s the small things we do each day that often make the biggest difference.

Are you struggling to cope?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the relentless demands being put on you that have exceeded your ability to endure?

We can do better.

We will do better.

It’s up to each and everyone of us to play a part in reimagining health, especially mental health by making wellbeing a business strategy.

Are you ready to step from overwhelm to clarity?