Personal MOT
How you are? Maybe like me you haven’t even had a moment to stop and think recently.
We have check ups all the time - an MOT for our car, we get our eyes tested, we go to the dentist, some of us have routine medical check ups for ongoing conditions. The purpose of checks ups is to make sure nothing serious is missed and that everything is working as it should. None of us want to be driving on the outside lane of the motorway and suddenly discover a major problem under the bonnet.
However we’re often moving at a 100 miles an hour and rarely taking a moment to pause to ask if we’re doing ok. A LOT has happened in the last 3 months. There has been an abnormal amount to process mentally and emotionally.
A few years ago I found myself suddenly experiencing some physical and emotional symptoms that were unusual for me. One evening I was sat in a hotel bedroom, as I was due to deliver a workshop the next morning. I decided to Google the symptoms of stress, thinking that it was probably nothing and it had just been a busy few months (well actually years). I was surprised to discover I had most of the symptoms on the list and it was quite a wake call as I sat on my bed in a pretty room with floral walls. I felt both relieved to understand what was happening to me and shocked to realise how stressed I felt.
Individually none of the symptoms are out of the ordinary and are very easy to ignore. As is often the case with things like stress and burnout, it’s not until we hit the wall that we make the radical changes needed to the way we are living and working. For me that night began a journey of taking my physical, mental and emotional health much more seriously. Because when we don’t, we realise that everything else can unravel quite quickly.
I share this because I’ve spoken to a lot of people recently who are emotionally and mentally exhausted and I feel the same myself. We have got the through the last 3 months but now our bodies, minds and souls are crying out for a well needed rest. But as life starts to speed up again and our diaries start to fill up, it would be easy to jump back onto the treadmill and try to keep going.
I thought it might be helpful to share some of the symptoms of stress from the NHS website:
Physical symptoms:
headaches or dizziness
muscle tension or pain
stomach problems
chest pain or a faster heartbeat
sexual problems
Mental symptoms:
difficulty concentrating
struggling to make decisions
feeling overwhelmed
constantly worrying
being forgetful
Changes of behaviour:
being irritable and snappy
sleeping too much or too little
eating too much or too little
avoiding certain places or people
drinking or smoking more
It’s not surprising that many of us will have experienced some or all of the above in recent months. However if you are still experiencing a large number of these symptoms on a regular basis it may be time to hit the pause button and give yourself space to explore what you might want to change.
The Wellbeing Toolkit that I shared at the beginning of lockdown is a bit of an MOT for your physical, mental and emotional health. If you think you might find that helpful you can download the toolkit here.