Category Archives: Social Well-Being

Five Tips to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick

We’ve all been there…excited to start fresh in the new year, only to feel the sting of defeat a few short months later. Why is it so hard to stick with the changes we so desperately want to make?

Did you know that while nearly one-third of Americans make resolutions each year, fewer than 10% succeed in achieving them? Those odds might sound discouraging, but they don’t have to define your story.

If you’ve ever set a resolution only to abandon it weeks later, you’re not alone. Real behavior change is tough, but it’s also possible with the right tools and mindset.

Here are five tips to enhance your commitment and help you be one the handful of people who make their resolutions stick.

  1. Tie your goals to your values: Align your resolutions with what truly matters to you. For instance, if you see yourself as a person who values integrity and your goal is to be more physically fit, when you find yourself thinking, “I don’t feel like it today” or “I can just skip this one time”, ask yourself what a person of integrity would do. Would she skip the workout, or would she follow through on her commitment to herself?
  2. Focus on progress goals instead of outcomes goals: In most cases we don’t have control over the outcome, but we do have control over our behavior. Instead of focusing on winning your age group for the 5K, focus on achieving consistent actions, like walking a certain number of steps each day or attending a specific number of fitness classes each week.
  3. Set an implementation intention: Henry Ford said, “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” Lack of preparation leads to poor outcomes, while thoughtful planning increases the chances of success. Set yourself up for success by planning when you will do the activity to which you have committed. Instead of saying, “I’ll put some money in my savings account, go past the point of no return and set up a direct deposit to put 5% of your paycheck in your savings account.
  4. Monitor your progress: We have all heard the saying, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” Keep track of your efforts through journaling, apps, or habit trackers. Not only will this help you to stay accountable, but success breeds success. When you see the momentum, you are building, your motivation will soar.
  5. Celebrate your small wins: Recognize and celebrate your small victories. Reflect on your day and give yourself a pat the back for following through on taking that walk or eating that salad or spending a half hour on your Spanish lessons. Giving yourself credit for the work you’re doing will build your confidence, keep the excitement alive and help you crush your goals like a boss.

By tying your resolutions to your values, focusing on progress, making a plan, monitoring your progress, and celebrating small wins, you can turn your good intentions into lasting habits.

If you’d like some support with your goals, check out your EAP program or connect with a health coach through Cigna.

Prioritize Your Well-being!

GMHEC is proud to announce the launch of a new wellness program – Movejoy!

Movejoy has created a wellness check-in program for employees of our member colleges and registration is open now. Movejoy matches employees from our member institutions based around compatible schedules and wellness goals. Together the matched pairs help one another stay accountable to a wellness goal/action for the duration of the program. This program is open to all employees and is a great way to connect with someone new and support one another.

The program will run from Monday, February 6th to Friday March 31st and we are asking everyone to sign up by Sunday, January 29th. Click here to visit the GMHEC sign up page

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Six Ways to Stay Safe and Enjoy Yourself This Holiday Season

Turn on the radio or television or log in to your social media accounts and you’ll likely see messages about the holidays being “the most wonderful time of the year”.  While that may be the case for many of us, we may also find this time of year to be one of the most stressful.  We’re feeling the pinch of having to wrap up year-end projects at work.  We’re overwhelmed with our finances and the supply chain crisis and how this will impact our holiday shopping.  We’ve been indulging in holiday goodies and our waistbands are feeling a too tight for comfort.  On top of all of that we’ve got Covid and the worry about new variants and how this will impact us and our loved ones.  Despite these challenges, it is possible to enjoy the holidays and do it safely.  Here are five strategies to help you stay safe and well this holiday season.

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The Power of Gratitude

A couple of years ago I read a fascinating and very practical book called “Positivity” by Barbara Fredrickson, PhD.  In the book, Dr. Fredrickson discusses her Broaden and Build Theory of positivity and the power of positivity to transform our lives.  Her theory states that positive emotions such as love, joy, and gratitude, promote new and creative actions, ideas, and social bonds which open us up to new possibilities and that these positive emotions can be drawn upon in times of stress to enhance our resilience and well-being. 

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Managing Your Post-Covid Re-entry

Over the last eighteen months, many of us have settled into life as remote workers.  While we had concerns at first as to what remote work might look like, we found that remote work brought significant benefits for our work–life balance, allowed for improved work efficiency, a greater sense of control over our work and more time with our families.  Now, just as we’ve gotten accustomed to working from home, it’s time for us to return to campus. 

Heading back to campus means we will have to adapt to and cultivate new routines yet again.   Our schedules might look different as we will have to commute again.  The time we’ve been able to spend with our families will be impacted.  We may experience challenges around child and/or eldercare as well as stress and anxiety associated with the uncertainty that this change might bring.  What will it be like to be face-to-face with our coworkers and students again?  Will norms in how we interact be the same or different?  How will we maintain the self-care routines we’ve worked so hard to establish?  These unknows can be overwhelming but we are resilient, and we will find our groove again.

Here are some strategies to help facilitate the transition and put you at ease:

  1. Get vaccinated: Getting vaccinated against Covid is the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your coworkers.  The vaccine is safe and effective and will enable you to get back to doing the things you enjoy without having to wear a mask or practice social distancing (except where required by federal, state, and local law).  Click here to learn more about Covid vaccine and where you can get a vaccine.  
  2. Share your concerns and needs with your supervisor:  Your supervisor wants you to thrive at work and wants to do everything he/she/they can do to help you be successful.  Your school has policies in place which may include telecommuting and flexible schedules to support your work-life balance so explore these options with your supervisor. 
  3. Take advantage of resources to support your mental and emotional well-being:  Your EAP program and Cigna offer a suite of benefits to support all domains of your well-being.  EAP services are available to everyone in your household as well so if someone in your home is struggling encourage them to reach out.  
  4. Make your well-being a priority:  Allocate time each day to your self-care if even only for a few minutes.  Whether it be a walk, yoga or a fitness class, time knitting or reading, journaling, practicing mindfulness or engaging in a creative project, we all need to recharge.  Subscribe to the GMHEC well-being newsletter to stay in the know about the events happening virtually and on your campus. 
  5. Start adjusting your schedule before you return to work:  Think about how you will need to adjust your schedule and start making those changes now. Set your alarm earlier to account for your commute time. Practice meal prepping and packing a lunch.  If you have been enjoying a lunchtime workout, consider where your workout will fit into your day once you go back to the office. Think through the little changes that may disrupt your flow and how you can adapt to them now.  By easing into the return to campus you will likely find that once you do return it will be a much smoother transition.

Transitions can be difficult but with a little planning and a little support they don’t have to be.  Act now and make your re-entry a seamless and positive experience.

Managing overwhelm and enhancing our mental well-being

It is not news that there is a mental health crisis in our county.  We have been hearing about it a lot lately.  In August of 2020, the CDC reported that among U.S. adults, symptoms of anxiety had tripled, and symptoms of depression had quadrupled since 2019.  Pandemic fatigue, job losses and loss of income, living in a constant state of uncertainty about the future, worries about the health and well-being of our loved ones, a loss of the way of life as we had known it, living in a virtual world, and being constantly connected to our screens, juggling work and parenting…. it’s no wonder that our mental well-being is suffering.

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Living on a foundation of values

I have been enjoying a lot of time alone in the woods lately hiking up mountains, breathing in the cold, crisp air and being in awe of the magical wintery scenery unfolding before me.  These forays into the wilderness have afforded me the opportunity to reflect on 2020 and consider what I want for 2021.  For many of us 2020 was one of the most challenging years of our lives.  We saw or experienced egregious acts of violence, unrest, and suffering.  It was a year plagued by unbelievable hardship.  But 2020 may have also given us a most precious gift, the gift of reminding us of what we most value and how we want to live our lives. 

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Giving thanks

I am about five years old and am sitting on my dad’s shoulders in my one-piece red snowsuit and big winter boots.  I’m waiting with great anticipation for the parade to start.  My dad said Santa will be here!  It is Thanksgiving and we are at the parade of all parades, the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade.  The energy is palpable.  The crowd is thick.  I’ve never seen so many people in one place.  There are people as far as I can see.  People are clutching cups of hot chocolate to keep their hands warm.  Street vendors are selling balloons and hot pretzels.  Steam is rising from the subway grates and the noise of the crowd is almost deafening.  I hear the music of the marching band coming our way and I see clowns on roller skates and they’re throwing confetti.  The balloons are huge, and the floats are so beautiful.  My dad is grinning from ear to ear and I love to see him so happy. 

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Fire and the power of gratitude

5:30 am on a hot, hazy summer July morning.  I sit down on my favorite spot on the couch with a cup of coffee and look out the window.  I take a deep breath.  I love this time of day.  It always feels so peaceful…like the whole world is still asleep and I have it all to myself.  The clouds are low and I can almost see the humidity in the air.  It looks like the house in the clouds…like what you’d see if you were looking out the window on an airplane when you’re flying through the clouds.  I can see the clouds rolling over the roof of the breezeway.  I’ve never seen the clouds move like that before, move over the roof like that.  In that instant I’m thinking how beautiful it looks and at same time, how odd.  And then for some reason I get the sense that something isn’t right.  I put my coffee down on the coffee table and step outside….and I see it…and I smell it…smoke billowing out of the attic above our garage.  It wasn’t the clouds I was seeing rolling over the roof.  It was smoke.   I’m strangely calm as I step back into the house and yell to my husband, “The attic is on fire!” 

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