I guess I’ll start by asking you a question…
How are you?
If you’re anything like me then despite how you’re feeling today your default answer to this will be something like, “yeah, I’m fine” or “not bad, you?”
Does this sound familiar? You’re not alone.
According to The Centre For Mental Health, lack of support in workplace cost the UK economy £34.9bn last year. Despite these statistics there is still a big stigma around mental health issues at work and I’ve experienced it first-hand.
I used to feel that it was unprofessional of me to show emotion. I believed that emotional = unproductive and at work I needed to be productive to make a living. My workplace fueled my belief with their ‘leave your personal life at the door’ mentality and there was an unspoken rule that we had to suck it up and get on with it.
As a society we are definitely moving in the right direction. The Duke of Cambridge is opening up the conversation about mental well-being in the workplace with Heads Together. This is a new initiative in partnership with mental health charity Mind to bring tools, training and understanding to working environments. Being a part of a team who speak openly, I know how much of a difference this can make.
I understand that this kind of support isn’t available everywhere and some jobs still require a fake smile. Trust me, I’ve been there. Ultimately the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is that emotional = human and I’m ok with that. We aren’t robots and there is strength in feeling something and being honest about it. The feelings that we bury have to be dealt with eventually and ultimately you’ll be way more productive if you tackle them when they first pop up.
Written by Liv Evans - content and social media manager at Bare Biology.
