We were working on some employee wellness material for our newsletter and got thinking about how people in the past dealt with change and uncertainty. This article has nothing to do with external security, but more so with cultivating internal security for an organisation and on the individual level.
Almost 100 years ago, the world went through a period of economic uncertainty, spurred on by a pandemic. The past few years have been difficult for many people, to say the least! Now that we’ve come out of the Covid 19 pandemic, many people are having difficulty adjusting to post-covid life, loadshedding, the cost of living!
A bit of background, the Great Depression (1929–1939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. This article(https://lemonzestandbasil.com/21-great-depression-survival-tips-and-wisdom-for-tough-times/ ) gave some great food for thought. While this article has a lot of points about how to make food stocks stretch, the mindset tips are the most helpful and can be used as metaphors for how we should approach our work and personal life in tough economic and social times.
So using a few points touched on, we’ve come up with some ways to leverage what you’ve got, and to foster a mindset of acceptance and resilience! (Some of these points work well on the metaphorical level as well, especially useful for businesses or organisations).
1. Never Stop Innovating!
· When the world changes, change with it.
· There will always be new opportunities and gaps that open up, if you keep your eyes open, and stay open to learning, you may just see one.
2. Be Creative and Resourceful in the Kitchen
· To make a 'success pie', you might think of conventional ingredients, but there’s more than one way to bake it.
· Take the ingredients you have, use them wisely, try something new, and your resources may show themselves how useful they can be.
3. Sewing and Mending
· Knit together the threads of things that define you. One string alone could break, but if you combine them together, they’re stronger.
· Sometimes when you think you’re just another string in a tapestry, if you step back, you may see how you can become part of a beautiful pattern.
4. Get it Fixed– Even if it Means Thinking Outside the Box
· Don’t throw things away.
· If you are having problems (at home, with a relationship, at work), things are fixable. Please speak with us, we want to know how you’re doing.
5. Garden- More Than a Hobby
· Tend to your own garden. Whether it’s a physical garden (great for getting some sunshine and fresh air, and great for mental health seeing your efforts result in growth), but also your mental garden. Don’t pollute it with people’s opinions, news stress, or comparison. It’s YOUR garden, unique and beautiful.
6. Embrace Community
· A community can be where you come from, where you’re going, or where you are right now.
7. Take Care of Your Home
· Your body is your home. Treat it well, get some sleep, eat something green, go for a walk a few times a week. Small changes can make your house a home.
8. Optimism and Gratitude
· Acceptance doesn’t mean you have to be happy with current situations, it just means understanding what is actually happening isn’t always the same as how you think things are.
· If you do a simple mindfulness exercise, and look for a best and worst aspect of your day, you may find that you might not have a ‘worst’, and you may find a ‘best’ in the little things like seeing your child or partner happy, or making a tasty meal.
· If you start with appreciation for what you have, look for the bests in your day, you can accept where you are, so you can see where you’re going without judgment of where you think you should be.
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