February is wellness month at Carizon…What are you doing for self-care?
Our Culture Committee at Carizon decided to focus the month of February on wellness. When people rank their least favourite month of the year, February is often the winner. With the holiday season behind us, the colder temperatures, the lack of sunshine, and the drawn out winter months of shoveling, hazardous driving conditions and slippery walking surfaces, February is the heightened season for the winter blahs. So how do we counteract those down-in-the-dump feelings? We can focus on self-care.
At Carizon we are dedicating each week to an area of wellness – physical wellness, emotional wellness, social wellness and financial wellness. We are challenging our people at Carizon to participate and act on self-care initiatives in each of these areas of wellness. We’d also like to challenge our community to do the same. Here are some ideas we propose that you could try:
Physical Wellness
- Walk to work.
- Try a new sport.
- Try a healthy new recipe.
- Practice good sleep habits.
- Complete 30– 60 minutes of physical activity.
- Stretch at your desk 2 times a day.
- Floss your teeth each night.
- Do something active on your lunch break.
- Belly laugh.
Emotional Wellness
- De-clutter your work space.
- Nurture your creativity—try an art class, start a journal, take an introductory music lesson.
- Dance or sing.
- Practice mindfulness and self-compassion.
- Meditate.
- Clean out a closet.
- Curl up with a good book and a cup of tea.
- Run a bath, light some candles and schedule a 30 minute soak with no interruptions.
- Do something unique to you to contribute to work/life balance.
Social Wellness
- Do a random act of kindness.
- Try a new social activity.
- Call someone to thank them for something.
- Spend Family Day with family or friends.
- Exercise with a friend.
- Cook a healthy meal with a family member or friend.
- Participate in a local community event.
- Take an opportunity to give back or volunteer.
Financial Wellness
- Complete or review your personal budget.
- Explore saving mechanisms including RRSP, TFSA, RESP.
- Make or review your will.
- Review your retirement goals and how you’re going to get there.
- Update your passwords for your online financial institutions.
- Check your credit score.
- Pay the full balance of your credit card in February.
We’ve also designated Wednesday, February 20th as “Me Day.” We’re proposing that members of our community do at least one thing on February 20th that is dedicated to their self-care and to share it with us on Twitter using @carizon and the hashtag #MEdayWR. Why February 20th? February 14th is Valentine’s Day, when we focus on taking care of our significant loved ones, February 18th is Family Day when we focus on our family; we thought it time that we designate a day to focus on ourselves. We all know that we cannot take care of others if we do not take care of ourselves. So on February 20th, let’s walk that talk.
Looking for a tool to promote self-care in your workplace? Carizon has developed a Wellness Bingo Card for the workplace for staff to record their self-care activities. You might also want to have a prize at the conclusion of your workplace challenge.
Join us and take care of yourself!
