Turning wellbeing from a word to a verb

It’s mental health awareness week so I thought I’d share the thing I’m doing that is having the most positive impact on my mental health at the moment, and it’s probably not what you think….

8 weeks ago, I signed up to do a parenting course. It seems weird to say this is only 8 weeks ago as I think so much has changed in this time. 

When I shared with a few people that I was going to do a course for 3 hours a week for 14 weeks, they were surprised I could find the time. To be honest, I didn’t know how this was going to work either, as I’m terrible at saying no to interesting work, so I never seem to have a gap in my diary. But when I reframed it to myself that parenting is the most important job I think I’ll ever do and that I’d invest many more hours learning things to ensure I get better at my day job, then it was an easy decision.

So with little expectation but a lot of hope, I rocked up. A little over halfway through and I was on a call with one of the facilitators this week. I said, “I think my child is a different kid”. Her response…. “Or is it that you’re a different parent”. Lightbulb moment. 

And this is where the tie into mental health comes in. For me, learning some strategies to be a better parent has easily been the best thing I could have done for my well-being. No longer am I overthinking if I’m doing enough or “things right”. I’m not googling how to bribe my kids to go to bed; I’m not stressing that if I ignore the small stuff, it will turn into big stuff. And by starting with myself, my baby birds are more curious, confident and calm. (side note, I think there is a whole other post to come around how parenting courses and management courses could actually be the same thing). 

A parenting course is not the most obvious activity to help with mental health, but I think that’s the point. Everyone is so different that it’s about finding what works for you. That doesn’t always look like meditation, yoga and beach walks (although those things can be awesome). And the hardest part - fitting it in. But the last 8 weeks have taught me that unless I prioritise what is most important to me, nothing changes. Common sense, but not common.  

But mental health is not something we can focus on for a week a year. That’s why I’m excited to run a well-being workshop for a client this week to help their team turn well-being from a word to a verb with an action plan that is meaningful to them over the long term. Give me a shout if you want to talk about doing the same for your team.