Wellness Month

What is the number one thing that gets overlooked within our industry? None other than our wellness.

Being conscious of our health is supposed to be the number one thing we as humans should put as our top priority, and then everything else. Nowadays, we forget to pause and take a much-needed breather with our work weeks, from nine to five, and our full-time jobs, personal relationships, hobbies, and social life. And many of you may ask, how do we know if we've overlooked our wellness? What are the signs of burnout? What is the root of my stress? Well, you can start by looking for the most common signs of burnout related to work and reevaluate your priority within your situation, which is your overall wellness. Because when you're burnt-out or stressed, your productivity will falter tremendously. So here are some quick burnout signs to look out for:

Just the thought of work makes you stressed.

You're eating more (or less) than you used to.

You're having trouble sleeping.

You're constantly exhausted.

You don't care about the quality of your work.

You're constantly missing deadlines.

Even the most menial of tasks stress you out.

You have no energy for fun things after work.

You drink a lot of coffee.

You're increasingly impatient.

We can say that if we had never gone through the COVID-19 pandemic, we'd all be performing at our healthiest selves, but let us be honest, life is incredibly unpredictable. We were barely able

to manage unexpected forces before the pandemic. Even more so today. We are all dealing with an economic downturn, living paycheck to paycheck, public health crises, and pressing work deadlines. It feels like every week, we need to work on our fullest cylinders, even to get a simple task done. So what are we going to do about it?

Throughout July, SMS kicked off its annual National Social Wellness Month, offering employees different health challenges to boost everyone to be more active, get out of that slump, and increase our overall wellness. Life has already been stressful due to everyone's work and life balance. Still, returning to the office post-pandemic and trying to rebuild some form of normalcy, we have all delved into a slump of quick short unhealthy habits to keep us moving. It seems that we are all looking for a renewal season. Hitting that refresh button and becoming healthy again without the gimmicks it's easier to obtain now that we're not quarantined. Especially employees in our profession are burned out, on edge, and stressed from the past two years, let alone the past couple of months getting back into the groove of things, keeping up with design standards, and managing a handful of projects at once that we've developed unhealthy habits: poor sleep, little exercise movement, stress, mental health issues, dependence on food, alcohol, or medications to say the least.

Following everyone's fitness levels, we complied a few fun, relaxing experiences which we all agreed have helped increase our melatonin to relax and destress. SMS focused on three key dimensions of well-being: emotional, physical, and purpose.

Emotional

SMS provided an hour of mediation for its employees to produce positive emotions, moods, thoughts, feelings, and adaptability to stressful situations. Allowing employees to learn how to silence and calm the mind and navigate challenging life events.

Physical

SMS began its Step-Challenge to get the office out and maintain a healthy quality of life. We're still in full swing within this challenge, but let us tell you, the competition is real, and everyone has enjoyed this experience tremendously. Look out for the winner at the end of the month!

Purpose

You're more likely to feel both physically and mentally well daily if you have something to take care of. So, since we couldn't get a new puppy for every employee at work, SMS crafted a DIY Succulent activity, where we all displayed our "green thumbs" and put together our succulents to keep us company at our desks. After all, studies have shown that plants allow our brains to function at a higher rate due to photosynthesis; we breathe and provide carbon dioxide to the plant, and the plant emits oxygen to the air. It's a win-win for all those involved.

Even though these are a couple of solutions, from our company, we know everyone is going through a different situation regarding their overall wellness. It's easy to start feeling stressed and burnt out at work, but it happens to the best of us. It's okay to pause and admit that you're overwhelmed and not pretend you're okay, so you can productively and more confidently get back to the real you. Sometimes you need to vent to a trusted colleague; it's helpful. It allows you to see other perspectives of the situation, clear your head, and find a solution to your stress. Other times it's essential to figure out what's permanent and temporary. Look at your schedule; can anything be moved around? Sit down with your team and delegate doable tasks to help you meet the outstanding deadlines. Most of all, take the break! By law, every employee has the right to take two ten-minute breaks throughout the day. Go stretch your legs. Take a walk. Just breath.

Don't think about what needs to get done. Just go be, come back in ten minutes, and look how much more refreshed and productive you will be.

And if nothing helps, maybe propose to your boss a solution. They're there as a valuable asset for guidance. They will understand; they've been there. They will value you stepping forward and admitting when you need help. They want to see you thrive!