This week, we visit the important topic of looking after your mental health. Running your own private practice can take a toll on your body and mind, so in this video, I talk about the small things you can do to switch off from work to rest and recharge. |
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Hi, it's Gail here. Today I'd like to talk to you about what I'm doing to take care of my mental health and give myself a little bit of a break at the moment. Now it's September so spring has sprung, and it's planting time. Now one of the things that really helps me get into a really meditative state and forget about everything, all my worries, is gardening.
Now, if you look behind me, you can see a little bit of my garden. Now I set this up yesterday. It took me about an hour and a half all up to dig it up and lay out some plants. And today, today is Monday, I've taken just half an hour out of my day to come and potter around and plant out a few of the seedlings that I've got that I didn't get the chance to put in yesterday.
Now by doing that, that has taken me just 30 minutes out of my day, and it's given me the time to completely switch off from work. You got to focus when you're gardening, and just to let the random thoughts go through your head but it really lets me switch off. And that means that I can come back to my work and be really refreshed.
Now for me taking that time is really important particularly when you work for yourself, and you're on your own quite a bit. To be able to take that time out where in a typical workplace, you might get those natural kind of breaks in your day through other things that are going on in the workplace. I've got to create them here for myself.
And the great news is I get to create the ones that really support me and really uplift me and fulfill me and let me be at my absolute best on my own terms. So here's my little garden. We've got a few little problems. We have possums that feed on the plum trees in my backyard. And last year they pretty much ate absolutely everything in my garden right down to the ground. It's taken a bit of thinking and planning so it's a little project that I've got to try and plant some things that are a little bit possum-proof, and to put some netting on it to hopefully keep those crazy little critters who are going to be exploring it away.
So I've put down, I've planted leek seedlings, a little leek garden bed, and hidden amongst it some thyme and oregano. And I'm going to put some rocket which I hope they won't like, and some chives and garlic chives. And I've picked lots of onion products because last year that was the only thing they didn't touch was the shallots.
So that's my way of unwinding throughout my day and on my weekends. I love to know and it's really good for you, it's good for your muscles, it's good for your brain, it's good for just thinking about something different to the challenges in my workplace, in my business, and all the things that are in my head.
I'd really love to know what you do throughout your day to help yourself switch off and so you can get refocused, and what things you do on the weekend that allow you to do that as well, because when we work for ourselves and in business, work can be 24/7, seven days a week. So we have to work really hard to make time just to switch off. Let me know what do you do to switch off. Share it with the community so other people can be inspired to create practices within their own workday that help to fulfill them.
As always I'd love to hear your thoughts. Leave me a comment and share your thoughts with our community.
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