If you’re currently feeling overwhelmed, anxious or exhausted - you are not alone! In fact, it’s happening to people all across Canada from coast to coast to coast.
In March 2022 Margaret Eaton, national CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association told the CBC, “After two years, Canadians are feeling overwhelmed and exhausted.” The same article stated, “The mental health of Canadians has deteriorated in the two years since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared”.
And U.S. citizens are in a similar situation. According to a recent mental health survey by Parade and the Cleveland Clinic, in just the week prior to the study, 45% of respondents grappled with anxiety, 36% dealt with sadness or depression, and 34% dealt with anger. "I think this shows just how much people have been struggling,” says Dr. Kia-Rai Prewitt, PhD, a psychologist working in the centre for Adult Behavioral Health at Cleveland Clinic.
It’s clear that Canadians (and Americans) just like you are still dealing with the effects of the pandemic and how to reintegrate into ‘normal life’ while also dealing with age-old seasonal challenges that lead to busier schedules and day-to-day changes that are often accompanied by increased overwhelm and stress.
Which of the following are causing you feelings of stress or overwhelm right now?
- Going back to the office after working from home
- Learning how to best work in a hybrid work environment - part office, part home
- Looming dates of end of the school year approaching and wondering how you will occupy your children
- Juggling busier social schedules both with longer days of sunshine and mandates being lifted
- Learning how to integrate yourself back into public settings
- All the other stuff you normally stress about: work deadlines, family events and situations, inflation, world crises and more
With everything going on it’s no wonder more people are experiencing feelings of stress, anxiety and overwhelm at this time. The good news: There are simple and effective ways to overcome these feelings so you can perform your best and thrive in all areas of life - no matter what is going on around you.
The Importance of Mindfulness for Better Mental Health
When our schedules become more stressful, it’s common human practice that the first thing we choose to leave out of our schedule is self-care practices such as exercise, meditation, hobbies and other mindfulness practices. They seem like a ‘nice-to-have’, not a ‘need-to-have’, right?
Wrong.
Unfortunately, this is the worst thing we can do for ourselves.
The busier you get, the more important it is for you to incorporate these types of activities into your daily routine. In a recent mental health study, only 37% of Americans who rated their mental health as low exercise regularly or spend time outside. They cited reasons such as being too busy, spending too much time working or caring for others or not knowing what to do to make a positive impact on their mental health.
Mindfulness practices in particular can quickly improve your mental health as they help you to let go of negative thought patterns, overthinking, worrying, and inability to focus by bringing your attention back to the present moment at any time. And thankfully, MindWell’s mindfulness-in-action is a practice you can use to overcome overwhelm, stress and anxiety without adding anything else to your already busy day.
Why is Mindfulness-in-Action the Solution?
All too often the word ‘mindfulness’ conjures up images of people sitting cross-legged on the floor amidst a bunch of candles and incense, eyes closed and not moving for an hour or two. While that is an option for those who are interested, here at MindWell we prefer to use mindfulness-in-action because:
- Most of us don’t have time to sit on the floor for hours every day
- Deep meditation sessions as described above can feel uncomfortable, awkward and even downright impossible for many of us
- There is a simpler, easier method that you can do anywhere, anytime - no pillow, candles or incense required
Over 90,000 MindWell participants who integrated mindfulness-in-action into their daily life showed the following results:
Start Practicing MindWell’s Take 5 Now
Take 5 is MindWell’s proprietary mindfulness-in-action practice. Take 5 can be done anywhere, at any time, even (or especially) amidst stress or chaos in your day.
In the video below you will learn the five central tools to Take 5 and then you will be able to apply them in various contexts, for varying duration and intensity.
Improve Your Life Starting Today
When you learn how to Take 5 daily, Instead of feeling overwhelm, anxiety and stress about everything going on around you, you can:
- Go back to the office after working from home with ease
- Find comfort in your hybrid work environment
- Look forward to having your children home, because you feel more able to handle stressful and difficult situations
- Enjoy your summer and all the activities you might have planned
- Hold work deadlines, family situations, inflation, world crises and more with a sense of compassion instead of stress and overwhelm so you can still perform your best where it matters most and be there for those you care most about
Learning to integrate the above Take 5 practice into your day - several times a day even - will be the ticket you need to overcome your negative feelings and emotions so you thrive with joy in your everyday.
Inside MindWell-U we help organizations and people just like you learn new ways to integrate mindfulness into your day - any time, anywhere - to see positive benefits in all areas of your life.
If you already are a member of Mindwell-U, log in now and choose a live class to participate in this week, search the on-demand video library for your favourite practice or review your days in the main learning material to remind yourself to bring a little more mindfulness into your day and every day.
If you are not already a member - or if you would like to talk to someone about bringing MindWell to your organization, contact us. We look forward to sharing how we can help.
Learn How Mindfulness (in Action) Builds Resilient Employees
