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The Caring For Self at Work Programme: How to stay healthy by taking care of oneself

By Author unknown.

  • Be gentle with yourself.

  • Remind yourself that you are an enabler not a magician. We cannot change anyone else - we can only change how we relate to them.

  • Find a hermit spot. Use it daily.

  • Give support, encouragement and praise to peers and to management. Learn to accept it in return.

  • Remember that in the light of all the problems we see, we are bound to feel helpless at times. Admit it without shame. Caring and being there are sometimes more important than doing.

  • Change your routine often and your tasks when you can.

  • Learn to recognise the difference between complaining that relieves and complaining that reinforces negative stress.

  • On the way home, focus on a good thing that occurred during the day.

  • Be a resource to yourself! Get creative - try new approaches. Be an artist as well as a technician.

  • Use supervision or the buddy system regularly as a source of support, assurance and re-direction.

  • Avoid "shop talk" during breaks and when socialising with colleagues.

  • Schedule "withdraw" periods during the week - limit interruptions.

  • Say "I choose" rather than "I should, I ought to or I have to". Say "I won't" rather than "I can't".

  • If you never say "no" - what is your "yes" worth?

  • Aloofness and indifference are far more hurtful than admitting inability to do more.

    • Ministry Today

    You are reading The Caring For Self at Work Programme: How to stay healthy by taking care of oneself by Author unknown, part of Issue 15 of Ministry Today, published in February 1999.

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