Introduction
If you’re looking for wellness posters to encourage your colleagues during this difficult time, look no further.
These posters are organised into broad themes ranging from dealing with failure, mindfulness, finding motivation at work, and workplace relationships. I hope you find inspiration, encouragement and motivation through these posters.
The inspiration
These posters were inspired by my personal work with clients, as a social worker. As I heard the stories of clients, I often came away with greater insight about life. I used to think that as the social worker, I was the one who was being a mirror for the client. I thought I was the one who was reflecting the life of the client, helping the client to understand more about themselves. But increasingly, I realised that the client was also being a mirror for me.
He was reflecting and helping me to understand more about life too.
The posters below are inspired by the approach some clients have taken towards life. We hope you are inspired too.
Building strong workplace relationships
At work, it’s tempting to point the finger outwards. Or you may find yourself struggling to manage difficult and lazy millennials!
It’s all your fault! You’re lousy.
Of course, you probably won’t say this out loud. But some degree of blame rests in your mind.
In the book ‘Outward Mindset’ by The Arbinger’s Institute, one question the protagonist asked struck me.
What if as far as I’m concerned, I’m the problem? What if as far as I’m concerned, the problem is me?
This brings you away from searching for the faults of others, towards reflecting on the flaws within yourself. So often, when something goes wrong, it’s easy to look outwards at the source of the problem. Blame someone else.
It’s not my fault!
But when you do that, you reduce the sense of control you have over the situation. You give over your control to someone else.
So this time, try asking yourself gently,
What if as far as I’m concerned, the problem is me?
Today we chase experience, but what we truly need is relationship.
Today, we chase after the latest staycation, iPhone, or the newest food destination everyone is raving about. Go there, take the pictures, post online, and celebrate the instant rush of likes, comments, and notifications about you.
But these experiences are finite. They come to an end.
Relationships? They are organic. They grow.
Some die, but they fill a relationship-shaped hole within you that cannot be filled by anything else.
This is not about me, it’s about us.
It’s so easy to be self-centred, rather than other-centred.
Whilst you need to be responsible for your own health, there are many times when it helps to look outwards. Ask your colleague how his weekend went.
Or buy something nice for your colleagues.
Kindness is free. It doesn’t take too much to be kind.
Finding motivation at work
One day at a time
When there’s dateline after dateline, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. It’s easy to think:
How am I going to finish all these?
How am I even going to start?
Well, you start one day at a time. This approach helps you to break things down, and to look at things in a more digestible way. You stop looking at the whole chunk of work, but you set yourself realistic targets.
You simply look at work one day at a time.
You become more forgiving of yourself.
Life is like Lego. You can only build it one block at a time.
Be gentle with yourself. Treat your work like Lego. Build it one block at a time. You don’t have to finish everything in a day.
You’re not a superhero! You just need to do it one block at a time.
I’m here to thrive, not just survive.
“I’m here to thrive, not just survive.” is a reminder to all of us that we can do more than just survive in the current situation. We can truly flourish, if we want to.
Flourishing is a choice. And a chance.
What if this situation you find yourself in, is a gift?
This time will pass
Whenever things go wrong, it’s tempting to forget that whatever you are going through, will eventually pass.
Just like this storm. As you look back over the course of your life, look at how the storms have passed. Remember how you got through them, even though it may not have been the best you did. You still did get through.
And you will get through this one too.
This too shall pass, is a reminder that no matter what happens, you will get out on the other side.
Once, a mentor was sharing with me about how his friend broke up with a partner.
He was crushing himself from the emotional distress of losing the relationship.
If there’s a lesson you must learn, it’s this.
Always have a bottomline.
Always tell yourself.
That no matter what happens, I’m going to get through this.
You may not know how. But you know you will get through. That’s enough.
Dealing with failure
Sometimes, when you fail, you may end up blaming yourself for not being good enough. But celebrate the fact that you tried. Celebrate the fact that you learnt lessons from this journey.
You can use Guy Winch’s Emotional First Aid strategy of learning from failure to build forward momentum for when you failed at work.
- What should I do differently next time?
- What opportunities might my failure possibly present?
- In what ways might my failure make me stronger?
- What ways are my failures a success?
- How much more will success mean to you now that you’ve encountered failure?
- Can you identify ways you derived meaning and satisfaction as you pursued your goal?
Journal down your answers to these.
Practical tips for work
Breathe.
When all else fails, return to your breath. When things are anxiety-provoking, scary and you have no idea how to get through, take a breath-out.
It’s like a timeout.
You spend 3 times, close your eyes, and return to your breath. Focus on your breath. Remind yourself that you still have your breath.
Smile.
Life’s too short to keep sulking.
Smile. You’ll automatically raise your mood, and find yourself looking for things to smile about, rather than things to sulk about.
Emotional health for work
I’m good enough… and that’s enough.
It’s so easy to look at what you’re lacking, rather than what you have.
Try this exercise.
- On a piece of paper, write down the qualities you love about yourself.
- Then write down how you have shown them in the past.
You will find that you’re far greater than you give yourself credit for.
Man up! No man down.
To the men: stop hiding behind your veneer of strength and invincibility.
You’re not invincible. You have emotions.
And showing emotions is not weak. It’s okay.
So what if your colleagues see you differently? It’s how you see yourself. You can choose to continue pretending that you’re okay, when you’re not. Or you can choose to be authentic and real with people who have earned that right with you, sharing with others about your struggles.
Don’t do life alone.
When there’s beautiful people who are willing to come alongside you and accept you for who you are, why not take the offer?
Without life’s rain, how can you have rainbows?
You can’t have rainbows without rain.
Here’s a short story about me.
I suffered the quarter life crisis twice. The first time, I wanted to end my life.
The second time, I ended up taking antidepressants to cope with the stress of it. But whenever I look back, I see how depression built the rainbow of my life today.
Today, whatever you’re going through, will you take a step back and see the rainbow that is possibly coming out of it.
This is not a hankering after positive thinking, and blinding yourself to the negatives in your life.
But it’s about taking a step back and realising…
There could be good out of this.
If I choose to allow good to come out of it.
Life is not about darting from the rain. It’s about dancing in the rain.
One morning, as I exercised, I was very frustrated. I was not hearing back from the 21 job applications I had sent out… and this did not seem like it was working out.
What was wrong with everybody!
Did they not like me?
But I stepped back. I started laughing to myself.
This was a process where I could grow from. I could enjoy the process.
Rather than expecting myself to get to ‘it’, where I found a job, found a great salary, found a great position, I could enjoy this liminal period.
What if this time was necessary for me to grow to all I needed to be?
You can look back at your own life. You will realise that when you get to a goal, you may not have been that satisfied. Instead, you found yourself just briefly excited.
You weren’t as pumped as you thought it would be.
But you would remember the journey you were on.
So enjoy the journey. The process matters more than the end point.
The serenity prayer
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change
Courage to change
The things I can
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Serenity, comes with three ingredients.
Acceptance + Courage + Wisdom = Serenity
Ask yourself three questions.
- Am I fighting against something that is outside of my control?
- Am I taking courage to change the things I need to change?
- Am I forcing things to fit my understanding?
Emotions are neutral. It’s how we react that gives them power.
John, do you realise if you slapped me, I still have the power to decide how to react?
I don’t have to slap you back.
Really?
How was that possible?
No one has the power to make you feel anything. You are the one who gives them that power and authority over your emotions.
You have a choice. And you have a chance to decide how you want to react to what people do to you. For example, in your workplace, someone may have talked behind your back.
You may be tempted to gossip behind their backs too. After it’s tit for tat.
The other party has done it, and you have the liberty to do it too!
But you have a choice to move on from it too. Because you know that gossip, builds greater negativity within you, and spreads that toxicity further within the workplace.
What will you choose?
One day at a time, one step at a time, one breath at a time.
If you’re interested in getting a set of these 22 postcards, you can buy them here.