Did you know about National Workplace Wellbeing Day?

Did you know about National Workplace Wellbeing Day?

When I heard about this annual celebration I thought ‘what a great idea’.  Apparently, it has been celebrated here for three years already.  Who knew!

I’m a Virtual Assistant and I work from home.  I guess that sounds nice and cosy, conveying images of me clicking away at my laptop on a snug spot on the couch.  In reality I had to have a proper dedicated space to manage my workload productively.  I am still organising my workspace which resides in an upstairs room with loads of natural daylight.  The room is quiet and away from distracting noises.  But that is not enough for my wellbeing. I still need to get a decent ‘spine’ friendly office chair to make sure that I mind my back, which, I’m afraid, is beginning to show signs of wear and tear!  And the reason for that?  Well, there is something that I think many of us are guilty of, and that is sitting for long periods of time staring at our desktops or laptops.  I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because I am shocked when I look at the little digital clock on my laptop and realise how much time has passed since I last stood up and walked around the house for a few minutes.  As we all know, and I am talking to the small business owners, freelancers and entrepreneurs out there…we can get bogged down with incoming email, social media updates, making appointments, invoicing etc. etc. etc.

So I decided today, enough is enough, time to find a solution to this daily problem!  It only took me about five minutes on Google…I love Google!  I found a lovely little Awareness App for my desktop.  The reason I chose this special App is that it plays a sound which I find very calming.  It is the sound of a Tibetan Singing Bowl.

The gentle chime is so lovely.  Now I will be made aware, after an hour, that I need to stand up and take a breather.  But hold on, there is more!  When the App chimes, a pop up appears suggesting ‘Break Ideas’ and when you click on that, a window opens where you can look at a choice of things to do during your break…the downside, is that you could easily spend another ten minutes looking at the list of choices!  Oh well.

Whether it is National Workplace Wellbeing Day or not…make sure you take a break!

Gillian