Taking Care of Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Must Be a Priority
By Graham McKeown (he/him/his), Assistant Vice President at State Street
As Chair of State Street’s Pride network, my goal is to be as inclusive as possible which is evidenced by joining forces with other employee network groups on several occasions to mark key diversity and inclusion calendar dates. A lot of the work undertaken is to help make the working environment be as inclusive to all and for staff to be happy in themselves both inside the workplace and outside in their personal time.
In addition, on a personal level, I was introduced to Headspace a few years ago after experiencing the pressures that life was thrown at me. Over time I have learned to identify the triggers and how to handle certain situations which can lead to stress and anxiousness. Headspace was new to me until I attended therapy sessions and it was from those sessions that it was introduced to me. Over the last 12 to 18 months, I have become more aware of mindfulness. In January last year, I completed “31 days of Mindfulness”. As part of the month-long personal task, I became more aware of abundance/mindfulness which increased my knowledge of the practices of mindfulness (non-judgement, non-striving, patience) whilst I created a personal journal.
The idea of the journal is to enable the individual to live by their values, become aware of their behaviours, connect with their mind and not allow factors of life to impact their lives in a negative way, plus to change the way they live their lives for the better. Seeing the writing in ink provided me with a better perception of my own values.
On top of that, I am a regular gym-goer, 5 to 7 times a week! My gym is all class-based so I have no get-out clause! I always feel re-energised after each class and work the endorphins! I ran more than ever during the Covid lockdowns - I was clocking up over 100km some months. Running helped me through this challenging time. Now that the weather is improving, I am taking back up running in addition to attending my gym classes, eating healthy and getting those all-important hours of sleep.
Take a look at the initiatives undertaken by State Street UK Pride Committee / Network here.
Graham will be speaking on myGwork’s WorkPride Panel: Shining a Light on LGBTQ+ Health and Wellbeing on June 24th at 1:00pm BST. Sign up now.
