{"id":1456,"date":"2022-01-17T07:45:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T15:45:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medely.com\/blog\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2024-04-15T12:58:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T19:58:28","slug":"create-calm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medely.com\/blog\/create-calm\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways To Create Calm And Prep For The Coming Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s the season to \u201cstart anew\u201d but after another difficult year for health care leaders it\u2019s okay if you\u2019re struggling to manifest a positive spirit. This past year has required you to make tough decisions around the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously supporting your health care workers, friends, and family through guidance, understanding, and compassion. How do you ‘create calm’ while embracing what the New Year brings?

Your head and your heart need a break. We\u2019ve pulled together a variety of resources to help you create space to breathe and recharge yourself this season. Some may take deep work, others will take just a minute or two. We hope these strategies help you embrace the changes and strengthen your resiliency for whatever trends and considerations<\/a> the coming year might bring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Check in with yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s natural to mask your own feelings when you\u2019re leading a health care workforce through a crisis. But that doesn\u2019t make your experience any less valid\u2014and, if you don\u2019t take care of yourself, those feelings can add up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the pandemic, our exhaustion compounds continuously so that our distress is incremental rather than instantaneous,\u201d writer Katie Navarra explained in SHRM. \u201cAlso, because exhaustion and burnout have a negative stigma, we don’t want to admit we’re feeling them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, before you can dive into self-care and create your own sense of calm, take time to assess your starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Colorado Healthcare Ethics Resource Group created a COVID-19 pandemic mental health care resource site<\/a>, including a stress continuum model to help people be more self-aware about their current experience: Thriving, Surviving, Struggling, or In Crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStress can be a path to personal growth,\u201d wrote Jan Ascher and Fleur Tonies for McKinsey Quarterly<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe key is understanding our own stress so that we can better harness our body\u2019s normal stress response, rather than only being subservient to it,\u201d they explained. \u201cThrough practice, we can learn to move deliberately between an engaged state, where we\u2019re energized, focused, creative, and productive, and a recovery state, where our brain processes events, learns, and recuperates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Get to know the four A\u2019s of stress management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s get this out of the way up front: A lot of the sources of stress you deal with at a health care organization are beyond your control and some stress management tactics might ring hollow. However, others can provide a solid framework for you to take a fresh approach to create calm with your role at work and at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mayo Clinic explained the four A\u2019s of stress management<\/a> as one of those frameworks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n