What's up, everybody?
More importantly -- how is everybody?
Not just you. Not just me. Everyone.
That's the question we're asking this week, via three insights on wellness:
#1 - for all the post-pandemic spend on wellness, how much impact can we expect it to have if the focus is on self-care?
#2 - we look at one big tech company's wellness investment and ask whether its group-based approach might make more sense.
#3 - a light-hearted Tweet on the very real need to still our racing minds.
As we curate this newsletter, we're constantly reminded of the scale of flux through which we're living --and working. And we're constantly concluding that we'd do well to offer ourselves a bit more grace. π
Thanks for reading, and have a fantastic week.
Aki & Usman
#1
#wellness #SelfCare
Here's that tension again, the one we so often encounter when we dissect the challenges of work: people are resources, yes, but they're also human resources. So many solutions to the problems we face at work come up short because they somehow ignore that.
In this article βπ», the authors highlight how we're applying individual fixes -- like gym memberships and meditation apps -- to an inherently human problem; a problem that's defined by our connections to one another.
Empathy, kindness, connection, inclusion, belonging -- there's a reason we return to these themes time and again. They're not trendy buzzwords and hashtags. They're needs; needs which make us human and unique. We don't "drop" these needs the second we swipe into the office, or dial into a Zoom call. And despite what we're led to believe, they're not incompatible with productivity, either.
#2
#wellness #GroupCare
A few weeks ago we featured a post by organizational psychologist Adam Grant, decrying the corporate band-aids being applied to a global mental health epidemic. We highlight this investment by Salesforce then, not to suggest it is more than a band aid. But because we think it dovetails nicely with insight #1, above, as a more group-centered solve: time spent with colleagues, on wellness, in a space that's physically removed from where we work. π€
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#3
#wellness #BeThePond
We agree with Megan -- this was not stuff we ever talked about in grade school. π
That the Tweet registered over 180,000 likes is in part down to its humor. But it also reflects how pervasive the quest to calm our over-stimulated minds has become.
Anybody else gonna try letting those fish swim? π
Thanks for reading! ππ»