Friday, August 23, 2024

The Benefits of Taking Action

If you wait until you’re in the mood to do something, you could be waiting a long time. Instead, take charge of your life.

Newsletters Manitoba Local 306

By Geoff Dueck Thiessen, Regional Director, Winnipeg Member Centre

I’ve become interested in the relationship between mood and action. Do I wait to be in the mood to take action, or do I take action to enjoy the benefits of the impact on my mood? I have experienced both.

A good example is physical exercise. It has been proven that exercise has many health benefits including strength, endurance, heart health, mental health. Yet it’s difficult to exercise when our mood is depressed (we lack the energy to get going) or anxious (I don’t have time for this!).

This spring, when I was struggling with burnout, I realized I had been working way too hard mentally and emotionally. On one hot July Saturday, I decided to go for a slow run with the goal of exhausting my body. I took it slow, intermittently walking and jogging, and I took water with me. When I came home, I was physically exhausted. I cooled down, had a shower, stretched, and had a nap. When I woke up, my mind felt better than it had in weeks.

In psychology, behavioural activation is a method where scheduling small activities is used to boost mood and break the cycle of depression. Starting with small things, people take steps to get some wins, and mood and confidence follow, along with the easing of negative thoughts. Examples could be do the dishes right after dinner, call a friend to go for coffee, go for a walk. These small wins can be enough to build toward bigger things like join a book club, take music lessons, look for a new job.

In our work life, it’s easy to get discouraged by built-up resentments, fatigue, and unaddressed issues like feelings of disrespect. It’s also easy to feel there’s no time to address our concerns, as many jobs are overloaded with long to-do lists.

Here’s the thing. If we don’t take action, what will make us happier? What will help with the depression? The anxiety? It’s taking action that has the best chance of breaking cycles of negative thoughts.

7 Ideas for Taking Action at Work

1. Insist on taking your rest breaks.

• If you have a mostly mental job, use your break to move your body, breathe calmly, notice your physical senses and surroundings (mindfulness), stretch.

• If you have a physical job, take some time to drink some water, have a healthy snack, breathe calmly, stretch.

2. Tell your manager you want a meeting to discuss your ideas and concerns about the workplace. Follow up if the meeting doesn’t happen within a reasonable time. If you haven’t had a performance evaluation in a long time, insist on scheduling one.

2. Go find the policies that impact you the most, and take a few minutes each day to read a bit about them:

• Your collective agreement

• Workplace safety and health

• Respectful workplace (bullying, harassment)

• Violence prevention

• Your health benefits plan

• Your retirement information

4. Get to know your union steward. Introduce yourself and ask for updates.

5. See if there are any union positions available in your workplace, like steward or workplace safety and health representative.

6. Schedule an appointment with a counsellor to get some perspective on unresolved issues and cycles in your life. Most workplaces have counselling coverage as part of the health benefits or EFAP (employee and family assistance plan).

7. Schedule an appointment with a physiotherapist to address persistent aches and pains.

I’ve decided I don’t want to wait until I’m in the mood to take action. That could take a long time. Instead, I want to be in charge of my life. Maybe Nike is onto something when they say, Just Do It!

The Benefits of Taking Action

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