I had a rough couple of weeks this month. Work-related, mental-health related.
I am currently thankful that I work where I do. My employer places emphasis on well-being, both physical and mental. They have even given us premium access to a top meditation app for free. This emphasis is one of the many reasons I have remained with my employer for the past almost 7 years.
I have always been open and honest about my mental illnesses, both with friends and family, and with my employer. My employer has always been willing to work with me, and my managers I have worked with over this time have been so understanding and helpful. They were and are happy to work with me as well with my fibromyalgia diagnosis and working around my high pain days, but the emphasis today is on mental health.
As I mentioned in my last post, the dark season is especially difficult for me. The summer is too, funny enough. This has translated into my work this year for the first time as the struggle seems to become more difficult every year. This fall, along with the dark season arriving, I am also working on diagnoses for both autism and ADHD with my doctor. This has been…a lot, but it is helping me better understand myself, ultimately. This time around, it was my manager who caught the decrease in my productivity, and it resulted in a lot of discussion around what I need to succeed and how we are going to approach things until I have a handle on it again. My manager is understanding, as is our branch leader, and I think between the three of us, we will set me back up for success again.
Being versed in my own mental illnesses and how they affect me, I have made several changes, some at the behest of my manager, who was very correct in thinking that the changes would help me. Frankly, the changes she suggested would help anyone who works in an office setting, sitting at a desk all day.
These are the changes I have implemented over the past couple of weeks:
hourly breaks where I get up from my desk and move, even if it’s just stretching or walking around the apartment
movement on my lunch hour, in the form of a short workout or yoga session
using my sun light daily after work, which simulates the sun and helps increase vitamin D production (something that I am inherently low in)
journaling daily (incorporated into my sun light time)
meditation twice daily, morning and night
tracking my own work for myself (this makes work almost fun for me, it puts me in a healthy competition with myself, and I track roadblocks I run into as well)
signed up for a continuing insurance education class to complete my insurance designation (something to look forward to and keep my brain busy this winter as class starts in January.)
In addition to these items, my branch leader has also offered to look into accommodations for me, in light of the possible autism and ADHD diagnosis. For a reference to where I am at, I have completed the self-assessments, I am now just waiting for the psychiatrist referral for formal diagnosis. She is of the mind that if there are accommodations available to me, that I should be able to take advantage of them, regardless of not yet being formally diagnosed. I appreciate her logic immensely, even though I acknowledged I have never worked or attended school with accommodations before. It’s new territory for me. I’ve been told more than once that what I am dealing with is a lot and that they want to make sure work is not a part of that “a lot”.
Since implementing these changes mid-last week, I have already noticed an improvement. I am more clear-headed, and work seems to be coming more easily again. I am also feeling less of an urge to constantly sleep. I think that might be the sun light doing its job. I think making sure I journal regularly has helped a lot with keeping emotions in check.
I have a follow up with my manager on Monday. I’m no longer stressed about said meeting or feeling nervous about discussing where I am at mentally, or the fact that my year-end review is looming. I have my work leaders to thank for this. Their understanding and willingness to work with me has made so much difference during a difficult time for me.
Linds, I was lucky in that my mental health issues didn't affect my work until the very end of my career. I'm retired now. My last performance review was the worst I've ever received in my entire life and it left me absolutely shattered. My boss and I were both crying but she had discussed it with HER boss and stuff had to be written. I like what you've been doing for yourself.