I am sure some of you will have heard of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing before, I am going to share some ideas from each ‘way’ starting with connect…

I was inspired to write this post after seeing on Twitter a diary entry shared by Golden Key in Bristol, written by one of their service users and describing their feelings around needing to connect with people for their own recovery to continue.

www.goldenkeybristol.org.uk/news/sjs-covid-19-diary-110-days

The Covid pandemic has affected how we connect with other people in so many ways, we have tried to adapt, but this is easier said than done. Now lockdown continues to ‘ease’ and some people are taking advantage of the relaxed rules and are spending more time again with friends and family.  For other people this period is still creating a lot of fear and anxiety, which is harder to manage especially when there seems to be almost peer pressure to be going back to ‘normal’?

The 5 Ways to Wellbeing are

Connect

Keep Learning

Be active

Take Notice

Give

It is so important to connect with one another as loneliness and isolation can contribute to all sorts of health difficulties, both physical and mental so try these ideas when you are out next or in contact with someone…

• Keep up communicating, smiling, saying hi even for those brief exchanges…

So, one of the other things I have noticed is now we are wearing masks more, it is harder to tell if someone is smiling, it is harder to read someone’s facial expressions.  I think this makes even those very short exchanges that might happen at say the supermarket check-out, the pay machine in a car park, any other que you might find yourself in quite strange.  

I encourage you to still smile, to still say hello and thank you to people.

These brief exchanges can mean a lot in terms of connection, maybe the other person needs it more than you but it can make someone’s day and you never know a brief chat with someone might brighten your own day too.

• Listen

How often do we ask something and then not fully listen to the answer? We might be thinking of our response or when that happened to us too, but try and take the time to really listen to someone. You don’t have to fix everyone’s problems sometimes the most important thing and what people need is to just be heard.

• Try to be open

Be open to speaking to someone new, someone that you don’t know, someone that might look different or be from a different place. You might learn so much from someone else if you are open to it. Being open to new people, new experiences and trying something new, like these ideas might open doors and create a whole new path that you never thought possible!

We can all spend too much time on social media and these relationships and connections are valid, however human contact (done safely) and connection is really invaluable.

This link below has further reading and ideas from the NHS…

www.dpt.nhs.uk/resources/recovery-and-wellbeing/five-ways-to-wellbeing

And from Mind…

www.mind.org.uk/workplace/mental-health-at-work/taking-care-of-yourself/five-ways-to-wellbeing/

Please like and share this post and I would love to hear any comments below…