For me, and I’m sure for many, gathering information is a coping mechanism. It’s a distraction. It’s a strategy to create the impression of being productive and in control. It’s a way to avoid discomfort. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always allay anxiety – in fact, quite the opposite is often true. But after much research and reflection (my other obsession), I’ve started to consider whether perhaps I need to reframe the way I think about these compulsions, instead of trying to fight or fix or apologise for them. Instead of seeing them as the strategies of an incurable neurotic, maybe I need to tell myself a different story.
Category: Mental and Emotional Wellbeing
Mental Health is Invisible
Perhaps one of the reasons mental health is so hard for us to talk about, let alone deal with, is that it’s mostly almost invisible to us. That is, not only is it not spoken about at a social and societal level, it’s often not even really noticed at an individual level. Our mental problems are less visible to us than our other physical problems precisely because we’re in them. Put differently: we don’t look at them, we look from them. This is Part 1 of a series on the topic of the nature of mind and the concept of self.
Burnout and the art of not taking oneself too personally
As a person who's prone to getting burned at work, I've come to realise that I'm often the one feeding the fire. It’s hard to take responsibility for burnout when our culture of glorified individualism and over-achievement has a lot to answer for, and when work-life boundaries get increasingly dissolved by technology, but we have to own anything we wish to change. And perhaps, while taking personal ownership for it, we can also take burnout less personally.
Self Care versus Self Compassion
What are the differences between self-care and self-compassion? There is a sense that the one is about behaviour and the other is about regard; hence, self-care is something we do, in the form of activities or rituals, while self-compassion (or perhaps more commonly referred to as self-love) is an attitude we have towards ourselves. In this post I explore the issues I have with some interpretations of self-care in the mainstream – how it has become monetised, used as yet another form of consumerism, and even become a way of avoiding responsibility for real self-nurturing and growth. But I’ve also been reminded that self-compassion is the conviction, the fundamental self-acceptance, that is necessary to enable self-care in the first place. After all, some days you’re too down to even self-sustain, let alone deem yourself worthy of looking after.
All & None of the Above 