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Resilience: A key to work life balance and integration
New skills are required to thrive in today's rapid paced, fast changing technological era. Many Canadians are feeling worn out. We are burdened by increased workloads and stress. The technology that once promised us more free time is now blurring the lines between work and the rest of our lives. Given the high demands of the fast changing era that we live in, it's vital that we grow our resilience: the human capacity to bounce back - to face, overcome and be strengthened by change.
When the 'hurry up go fast' work culture dominates, we sometimes overlook our health and wellness, and how the daily choices we make affect our well-being. Developing resiliency means developing the ability to continuously return to balance in the face of constant disruptions in our lives!
Work life integration means finding a combination and balance of the key components of an integrated life that work together over time to enhance health. An integrated life includes Emotional, Spiritual, Social, Mental, Physical and Meaningful Contribution.
Healthy 21st century workplaces focus not just on the work but also on the health of the people doing the work. By using these tools to regularly check in with yourself and act on what you find, you can begin a conversation with your family and your team about putting health first.
First choose a couple of behaviours to work on and let your colleagues/significant others know what you are doing so you can support each other.
A wise person should consider health the greatest of human blessings.
Hippocrates 460 - 400 B.C.
Increasing resilience: living by the 3 R's (Recognition, Responding and Renewal)
Growing resilience is an active process of Walking the Talk of Wellness on a daily basis. It is a lifelong journey of recognizing by being mindful, choosing responses and renewing ourselves daily as we adapt to change.
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
Recognition means paying attention; being mindful of what is happening in your world at the external level and how it impacts your internal world.
Activity Part 1: Recognize your stress symptoms in each of the key components of an integrated life.
- "In-the-moment" awareness of the impact of stress, and noticing what you are thinking, wanting and feeling (physically and emotionally) are central to recognition.
- On the Recognizing Stress Symptoms worksheet [PDF] check-off all the symptoms you experience when working hard, feeling stressed or when your life seems out of balance. Notice that on this worksheet are some positive symptoms as well, such as excitement and enthusiasm that we often feel at the beginning of a big project, but sometimes lose as we get too overworked.
- Note the areas where you have clusters of negative stress symptoms for use in Activity Part 2
Responding occurs next. When recognition is not present we can often be in "reactive" mode to life rather than being in "responsive" mode where we exercise our own choices. The next exercise is designed to move from recognition of symptoms to responding in a positive way.
Activity Part 2: Choose key components to focus on.
- Using the Components of an Integrated Life worksheet, [PDF] determine which components you choose to focus on based on your clusters of negative stress symptoms. Select behaviours you'd like to develop to improve your resiliency.
- During Canada's Healthy Workplace Week (and over the next month), challenge yourself to work on developing at least three of the behaviours you've selected. Each time you recognize a stress symptom, take notice of your response - is it reactive or responsive?
For example, in Activity 1, one person ticked anxiety, mood swings and worrying in the Emotional Component. In Activity 2 he choose to focus on 'Being aware of and expressing emotions' with his life partner and colleagues he was close to. These steps will help to get at the root of his anxiety.
After you begin to focus on select behaviours to renew yourself and increase life integration, you will notice you become more resilient in your response to stress and periods of imbalance.
Renewal is the continuous process of finding purpose, meaning and passion as we move through the seasons of our lives. Renewing ourselves means constantly learning to let go of the things we cannot change with ease and grace, to accept the joys and challenges of life, and make daily choices that support our mind, body and spirit.
Activity Part 3: Strategic Reflection
Create daily quiet time to be mindful and sensitive to your internal state. Ask yourself, how am I doing in my life at this moment, and what do I need to let go of? For example, at the end of a full and busy workday, Doug pauses to reflect on his to-do list where three out of ten items are not completed. He recognizes he did his best work for the day, takes a deep relaxing breath and let's go of unrealistic expectations.
Resiliency in Action: In the Ministry of Environment, during workplace change that impacted work life balance, individuals were asked to identify their stress symptoms and chose behaviours they would focus on to grow their resilience to workplace and life stressors. Teams supported each other by being flexible and adaptable to what was happening in the moment and made choices to support themselves, which ultimately supported the team.
The result was that individuals and teams recognized workplace strain and worked together to create a culture where people actively support each other to live integrated lives. The outcomes were higher levels of workplace satisfaction, engagement and team performance.