1. Self-Value
- Put your mask on first. If you do not take care of yourself, you cannot take care of your friends, family, colleagues, and patients. No one wins when you are depleted.
- Continue self-care
- Choose to keep healthy even when things are really hard
- Make safe choices
- Avoid over-nurturing; you will experience burnout quickly if you believe your job is to “save” everyone
2. Physical Well-Being
- Prioritize good sleep
- Eat healthily
- Exercise
- Seek medical or psychological services when needed
3. Emotional Regulation
- Acknowledge reality; accept what is
- Focus on what you can control
- Feel your feelings; they are neutral messengers
- Don’t belittle your own experience
- Allow yourself to grieve your loss – no matter how large or small. (Grief stages: DABDA: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance)
- Continually ask, “Is this helping me or harming me?” or “What would make me feel good right now?”
4. Cognitive Flexibility
- Stay in the present – consider the positive impact you can have on what happens next
- Take a different vantage point to see how you can contain the negatives and generate currently unseen positives
- When overloaded with stress, we often think there are only 2 paths: Things staying this bad or getting worse. But there is a 3rd: the better way out. Look for this!
- Be aware of automatic negative thoughts
- Reframe the experience to find meaning
- Don’t fall into the trap of perfectionism
- See failure as an opportunity for growth
- Stay optimistic and hopeful
5. Adaptive Coping Behaviors
- Seek out and utilize resources at work and in your community
- Reject maladaptive coping and avoidance behaviors
- Remember a time in your past when you were resilient or got through something difficult. That strength is still within you! In fact, it’s even stronger now!
- Increase your well-being – see list below
6. Supportive Social Network
- Spend time with uplifting people
- Ask for help
- Share your experience when you’re ready
- Seek out good listeners; empathetically listen to others
- Know that you’re not alone
7. Purpose
- Lean on your faith and spirituality
- Know your personal core values and stay aligned with them
- Find the deeper meaning in your work or actions (Ask why 7x)
Research-Backed Ways To Increase Well-Being:
- Practice meditation and mindfulness
- Sleep 7 – 9 hours per night
- Exercise
- Eat well
- Practice gratitude
- Find something to look forward to
- Spend money on experiences rather than things
- Nurture relationships
- Commit conscious acts of kindness
- Infuse positivity into your surroundings
- Utilize your strengths
- Take deep breaths with exhale 2x longer than inhale
- Spend time in nature
- Watch, read, and listen to uplifting media. Eliminate or drastically reduce exposure to the news
- Take 24 consecutive hours off per week