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becoming comfortable with uncertainty

Becoming comfortable with uncertainty

This blog post had been in my bank of ideas for a while, and now seems like a fitting time to write it. In case you’re reading this years later or have been living under a rock, right now we’re in the middle of the corona virus crisis. Corona what? Basically, a “flu like” virus that’s gone rogue and is causing havoc (don’t quote me on that scientific description). For a humorous interpretation see the below (in French)

But back to serious business, we are now collectively going through a time of uncertainty. And that can be scary, so what can you do to deal with it?

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Dance and mental health part 2

The role of the self in the creative process

Photo by Luis Quintero from Pexels

A few months ago I wrote a blog post called “Reflections on dance and mental health”. I wanted to explore the connection between our minds and our creative process as dancers (or artists). It wasn’t per se connected to mental health, except that I really believe the two are very closely linked, impacting our ability to feel “free”. Whether that’s free in our personal or professional lives or in other roles we play… That was the connection I was seeking to understand. 

If you’re suffering from a moment of self-doubt, or feeling anxious and depressed, how does it affect your creative process? In my case: how is my mind controlling me when I dance? I decided to explore this topic further, looking more closely at “freestyle dance” (you could also call it improvisation) because I struggled with it for a long time, and only recently started feeling comfortable. I decided to go beyond my own experience, sending out a survey to other dancers and here we are. 

You better grab a drink and some snacks because it’s going to be a long read. 

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La danse et le mental

Je ne vous cache pas que rédiger un post comme celui-ci en français me semblait une tâche bien difficile… Pour le coup il faudra m’excuser si le français n’est pas toujours bon ou semble un peu anglais parce-que bon, traductrice n’est pas mon métier…

Il y a quelques mois je rédigeais (en anglais) un premier blog sur la thématique de la danse et “le mental” ou notre état d’esprit, notre bien être psychologique. Mon but était d’explorer le lien entre nos pensées et notre processus créatif en tant que danseurs(euses) (ou artistes). Je partais du principe que les deux sont étroitement liés et que ça avait un effet sur notre capacité à nous sentir “libres”.  Que ce soit libre dans notre vie professionnelle, personnelle, ou dans d’autres rôles que nous jouons, c’était le rapport que je cherchais à comprendre. 

Si on est pris d’un moment de doute, qu’on se sent angoissé ou déprimé, quel est l’effet sur notre processus créatif? Et dans mon cas: comment est-ce que mes pensées me contrôlent lorsque je danse? Je voulais explorer le sujet plus en profondeur, et en particulier en rapport avec la danse freestyle (ou improvisation). J’ai longtemps eu du mal à me sentir à l’aise, et c’est depuis peu que j’y prends plaisir. J’ai donc décidé de faire appel à d’autres personnes en créant un questionnaire, et nous voici.

Je vous conseille de sortir l’apéro (ou préparer le café) car ça va être long!

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Taking care of your mental health during a crisis

Photo by Fausto García on Unsplash

As I sit here writing on a Saturday morning of March 2020, it feels like we’re really living in a strange world, or strange times. And I say this, as I am trying to ignore what’s happening “in the rest of the world”. I just spent 20 minutes dancing to disco music in my kitchen and that definitely lifted my spirits.

Still, I felt the need to write a short blog post because our mental health is going to be (if not already) impacted by the events, and we have to take care of ourselves and each other.

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Is “me time” selfish? taking care of your mental health

Is me-time selfish? Taking care of your mental health
On top of the dune du pilat

When it comes to good mental health, hopefully by now you know the importance of looking after yourself. This will look different for everyone, but I believe it’s a key element to staying on top of your sanity and being able to give your best in all areas of life. But as I was having conversations with friends and family over Christmas the question dawned upon me: is me-time selfish? Spoiler alert! In my opinion: absolutely not. Me-time is of utmost importance and is practically sacred.

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Building resilience for mental health

Guest blog post by John Dyer – 10 minute read

resilience for mental health - John Dyer

Not a day goes by that we don’t hear the word resilience mentioned in some context. So what is it? Often it’s linked to the concept of recovering or bouncing back from setbacks. You might think of people going through incredible hardship and coming out the other side, or athletes going through an injury and coming back to compete. 

While I certainly think this is part of the definition, I also find it a bit narrow. We all know life has ups and downs, and for some these are more extreme than for others. 

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Integrating the different parts of your life

integrating the different parts of your life
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Back in November 2019 I attended the Women in Tech Regatta and was inspired by several of the talks I attended. One of them was around “Integrating career and parenthood” and as I was sitting there, I felt that it touched upon some of the tensions we face in the workplace when battling with our mental health regardless of whether we are parents or not.

This got me thinking of the work-life balance again, and how we can create work environments that are favourable to managing the different roles we have in life.

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What is burnout trying to tell us?

What is burnout trying to tell us

There’s a lot of information out there about burnout, but have you ever stopped to think about what it really means? What is the message being sent to you from your mind and body when you burn out?

We can talk a lot about the circumstances that lead to burnout and in fact it’s easy to blame others, particularly employers. They overwork us, they don’t see us for who we are, etc. etc. But let’s take a step back and ask ourselves what the burnout was trying to tell us. This is something we don’t talk about so often, and yet it’s crucial if we want to be better able to understand and prevent burnout.

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A decade of mental health

A decade of mental health

With the ushering in of a new decade, naturally I started thinking about what I had accomplished in the past 10 years. There were many different things and it seemed more sensible to break it down into categories, which is when I thought of the last decade purely in terms of mental health.

What happened, and what has it represented to me? I wanted to take the time to reflect and put “pen to paper”. After all, “That’s mental” wasn’t born out of thin air.

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My last burnout

burnout
Image by Lattice

Or should I say, the last time I burnt out. I really hope it was the last but you never know, these things creep up on you… Nevertheless, I’d like to share the story with you and I took to video again to do so.

Once again, it was the the usual “end of year breakdown”. Sad that’s actually a thing, but it was. And I’m sure many of you can relate, in most industries Q4 is pretty intense.

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Mental health: managing your emotions in the workplace

Managing your emotions in the workplace
Women in Tech regatta 2019

In October 2019 I attended the Women in Tech regatta, and was super excited to take part in 2 very interesting panels that inspired me to write.

One of those was called “Hiding in the bathroom: emotions in the workplace and how to manage them”. It was moderated by the wonderful Lara Manqui and included other people whose work I already enjoy following such as Vivian Acquah and Kevin Groen.

Call me crazy, but it was only during this panel that the penny dropped: holy shit! Emotions in the workplace are so connected to our mental health. How have I not talked about this before?

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What is Normal? Reflections on mental health and the hospitality industry

Mental health in the hospitality industry
Alex Haupt, 101 Gowrie

Guest blog by Alex Haupt from 101 Gowrie.

Editor’s note: at the end of September, I attended a talk run by Creative Mornings Amsterdam where Alex spoke on the topic “Muse”. He ended up talking quite a bit about mental health and I was really inspired by his presentation. Afterwards, I decided to ask him if he’d be willing to contribute to my blog, and you can see his thoughts below.

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Real-life mental health stories: mental health in a leadership position

Mental health in a leadership position
Selina and Baxter

This blog post is part of an interview series for mental health awareness week. In this series, different people give their perspective on living with a mental health condition.

In certain cases as with the interview below, people have had the courage to reveal their identity. This is brave, as it can be difficult and daunting. Congratulations to them!

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