Resilient Practice

By Karen Forshaw, GP

Top tips for maintaining your wellbeing

The last couple of years have been tough for healthcare professionals… Our jobs are some of the hardest out there because we are often dealing with people who are afraid.  Chrissie and I are practising healthcare professionals so we know what you face day to day.

It is vital that we remain well so that we are able to continue the excellent services that we provide. To do so, it is useful to have tools at our fingertips that boost our mood and build our resilience.

Resilient Practice was set up to teach such tools to as many people as possible. Check out our free website where we post a new tool every week and have a look at the courses we run.

www.resilientpractice.co.uk

Get in touch if you have any questions or comments.

We’ll leave you with our top 3 tips for maintaining your wellbeing

Stay hydrated

This is so simple yet is something that many of us ignore. Dehydration impairs our cognitive function, makes us grumpy and causes headaches.  Commit to keeping your total water intake to above the 1.8 litre mark and reap the benefits.

Breath

Breathing is automatic but when we make it conscious it is a fabulous wellbeing tool. 2-3 minutes of deep diaphragmatic (or belly) breathing switches off our fight-flight cascade and activates the relaxation response. Use this whenever you feel things getting on top of you.

Challenge distorted thinking

Many of us hold negative core beliefs about not being good enough. This can lead to negative patterns of thinking that in turn influence our feelings and behaviours and manifest outcomes. Pay attention to what you are saying to yourself and if you notice negative comments – ask yourself “Is that really true?” “Would I say that to a loved one?” If the answer is no then stop saying it to yourself.

Our book ‘How to Rise – A Complete Resilience Manual’ contains over 60 tools and techniques to try.