Wellness started to change when COVID-19 emerged. At first, I didn't
feel or see the change since I have been working from home for nearly
17 years and in the last 5 fears of my partners life, I had responsibilities
to being the primary care giver for my partner, suddenly my balanced
work and life balanced turned on its head. l We went through the
lockdown, went through the rough patches of actually getting covid
before there was a vaccine and also being my partners caregiver. It was
then that I had to think about what wellness for me really meant. That
for me was putting my partners needs ahead of work while keeping my
own health needs equally high so I can continue being there to take
primary care for my partner. During this time, I realized that reducing
stress, and keeping my own mental health at optimum levels to achieve
the goal of now adjusting my concept of wellness. It became I need to
reduce the stress in my life that can be detrimental to my physical
health, mental health, and learning how to ask for help when it feels like
everyone is against you. l Speaking to therapist about what I am going
through with someone who is not going to judge you but listen, offer
unbiased feedback and provide you with new tools to see the future
with more clarity. l As stated at the opening it has been 10 difficult
months since the loss of my partner and think I would've been more lost
if I never adjusted my original thought of wellness from just having a
balanced work life balance. To having a balanced life and learning when
I was slipping back to old hobbits. Nowadays, my mental, physical,
spiritual, and social life take precedence over work life. I am starting to
see that by making me first and not feeling guilty about putting myself
first is actually improving my work life, which is useful since I work in
healthcare, and I try to instil in workers that they should always put
family and themselves first and work second.
