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. 😌

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 ✌🏻, 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. 🤔

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#3

#wellness #BeThePond

We agree with Megan -- this was not stuff we ever talked about in grade school. 😝

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? 🐠

Thanks for reading! 🙏🏻