- Let's talk about stress, baby.
Welcome to this week's Weekly Radish,
and this is a bit of a cringer for me
because I'm gonna be dredging up an old video
that's still on my YouTube channel for you to see
and I put the link at the end of the video.
It was a genuine attempt to bring up
some important points in a tongue in cheek way.
In a nutshell, the video's "Let's Talk About Stress."
For those of you who are of a certain generation,
you'll remember the Salt-N-Pepa song,
"Let's Talk About Sex, Baby."
I in my naive, younger days in business
thought it'd be great to do a parody song
called "Let's Talk About Stress, Baby."
♫ It's not all about chasing the wealth,
♫ So stop, don't panic
♫ Even though it's all manic
♫ Don't let psychology
♫ Screw biology
♫ Step away from technology
♫ And have yourself a cup of tea
♫ Let's talk about stress, baby
And here were the reasons why I felt it important
to create that, albeit in quite a cringeworthy way.
So the first reason was because the title itself
gives it away.
Let's talk about stress, let's talk about it
in a more open, positive, and constructive way,
because many of us, I've worked with hundreds
if not thousands of people now, we all recognise
that stress itself, the word, has a lot of baggage,
and it's become something that we use inappropriately,
but also we are often perceived as either weakness
or if you wanna do stress management,
let's go and hug a tree and meditate, and I'm not knocking
any of those things, it's the perceptions around
that there's something soft and fluffy
and you're weak if you need to take an interest
or talk about stress.
And the reality is, stress, although the word itself
may be problematic, represents the feeling
that many of us have when we feel strained,
when we feel overwhelmed or overloaded
or ground down and we need to have
a more positive conversation where we're not afraid
of being open about it, we're also ready to tackle
when we feel that it is being overused
or inappropriately used, but we are doing so
in a supportive way, a supportive, empowering way
that doesn't mollycoddle people but does support them
and empower them to take back control of their lives,
and it was something that was very important to me
and still is, that we talk openly,
constructively, and positively about the strain
that human beings can be under from time to time.
The second reason, and it links into this idea
of baggage because there are links between stress,
strain, and mental wellbeing, mental ill health.
I am somebody, as many of you know,
I've struggled with my own anxieties in the past,
anxiety's a condition, and feeling low,
feeling crushed by it from time to time.
And I've come to realise that again,
the way we talk about mental health,
mental ill health, mental ill health being a problem
or a weakness or you just need to pull yourself together,
there's a lot of misunderstanding, a lot of fear
about how we both open up to talk about it,
but also how we approach and support people
who are struggling.
And the reason the let's talk about stress song
for me is important is because if we can get our language
right about stress and strain, we can start to support
creating a climate around how we support people
with mental health struggles.
Because many of us are managing mental health conditions
lifelong, but that doesn't mean they're problematic,
it may be that they're problematic from time to time
but they're managing in life so let's have
a more constructive supportive conversation
and create a culture whether we're feeling overwhelmed
in the moment through the stresses and strains
of life or we're genuinely struggling
with ill health, something is not right in there
and we're struggling and straining with anxiety,
depression, or something even more significant,
we can have a climate where we can be more open,
we can feel safe enough to go I'm struggling here,
and we also feel confident enough to know how
to approach and support that person.
The third reason is that I also wanted
a lighthearted way, and it kinda feeds through my work
and workshops and speaking and these videos,
is to use humour as a way to break down those barriers
and get us talking about it.
And if you click on the video, you'll see
that throughout the song, there are tips,
there are suggestions that I have used in these videos.
Step away from the technology, have yourself
a cup of tea, let's talk about stress, baby.
Let's be more open, let's communicate,
and let's give ourselves a break,
so the idea of the video was to create a more
positive dialogue around stress and strain,
a more positive support to create a culture
and a climate that's positive for being open
about mental wellbeing and mental ill health,
and mental health problems, and to offer
some simple tips in a tongue in cheek way.
So the message still stands: it's important
to be open in a constructive and informed way.
So if you feel like you're struggling,
then talk about stress.
Let's talk about stress, baby.
Learn the six stress to putting stress
in its place by visiting timeouttoolkit.com
and claiming your free ebook, "Emergency Stress CPR."
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