This article is written by Fiona McLaughlin, former VP Life Sciences, Midwest, South & Southeast US for IDA Ireland

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Rigid hierarchies. Endless politicking. Irresolvable stagnation.

A public servant can be forgiven for sometimes wanting to draw the curtains and crawl back into bed. Throw in the moral distress of a global pandemic brought to you by a relentless attention economy, and you might as well go one further and set the auto-reply to “Wake me up next year”.

Alas, as taxpayer employees, we are responsible for keeping our communities functioning as the world adjusts to a new reality. Not much room for self-care, you might think. You may even consider self-care the very opposite of public service. You’d be wrong.

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A few years ago, I signed up for the STEP program by learndobecome.com to improve my workflow management. Incorporating the author Dave Allen's Getting Things Done methodology, LDB has developed a system for daily productivity rooted in personal values and life goals. I got so much more from this program than just that.

The process starts with a physical and mental decluttering (doesn't that always feel so good?). In the elimination process, I realised I was not only choosing what to discard but consciously choosing what remained. That act of choosing felt empowering. The more empowered I felt, the more engaged I became.

And the more involved I grew, so the more positive my outlook became too. I was awakening to a truth so easily forgotten in the hustle and bustle of daily life: that to the extent that we as human being can conceive of events, we are at every stage in life the architects of our own futures. We alone determine the strategy and execution. We alone decide our vision, values and mission. We alone choose how to engage with the world.

Consciously choosing to feed the body, mind, spirit, and soul a healthy diet is the bedrock upon which everything else exists.

With renewed energy and optimism, and an efficient STEP process in place to take care of day-to-day workflow management, my first project was to create a routine that would sustain this sense of empowerment. I started paying attention to high and low-yield activities in my daily life and identified five that delivered an outsized positive impact on my mental health.

Nourish

Have you ever seen that safety demonstration on a plane where they tell you to put on your oxygen mask before helping the person sat next to you? “Nourishing yourself” means taking care of yourself first before you can take care of anyone or anything else.

I noticed that the basics of eating well, drinking plenty of water, getting some sunshine, and taking a little exercise, made a profound difference to the quality of my daily life. I developed a daily 10-minute meditation routine using the Headspace meditation app.

I dug out my favourite albums — Kylie Minogue, "Fever" 2001, don't judge — to enjoy on a walk. I discovered affirmations to replace unhelpful negative thoughts. If it's right for you, you might like to pray. Consciously choosing to feed the body, mind, spirit, and soul a healthy diet is the bedrock upon which everything else exists.

Create

Former Washington Post editor and reporter Joel Garreau says: "The essence of being human is being creative." Being creative means seeing something in a new way. Part of the STEP program involved defining ambition arenas that would move me towards a balanced and fulfilled life. One of the theatres I decided was important to me was "challenging, interesting, and creative work".

One of the most soulful things you can do is give your time, energy and attention to others.

Simply nudging the kaleidoscope helped me see renewed possibilities in my current role that elevated my perspective and provided motivation. I love creating order: developing new organising processes and systems gets my creative juices flowing. So I actively began to look for ways to get involved in projects that required those skills. I also found myself actively looking for ways to help others find what they get from work that gets them excited about it. Motivation coupled with a method is contagious, in one of very few ways available to us right now.

Give

Humans are hard-wired for connection. Even if we are currently working from home and living alone, none of us are really on our own. One of the most soulful things you can do is give your time, energy and attention to others. Ask your family, friends, and colleagues how they are doing. Really ask. Actually listen.

Giving not only takes you out of yourself, but makes a big difference to someone who may need help or just have someone hear them. Send a text, write an email, make a call. If you can afford to, donate to your favourite charity. But most of all, give thanks for what you have. A job with a paycheck and benefits, a roof over your head, another day, another breath — even when times are tough, there is always much to be grateful for.

Reflect

In 339 BC, Socrates is recorded to have said that “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

That ancient wisdom is still relevant today. Take time for yourself, seek quietude, and reflect on your day and what is happening in your life. Listen to what you think about those things. I find that journaling allows me to work out my private thoughts in a productive way. Psychology tells us that old school pen and paper are the way to go, though right now, I'm using penzu.com, a free online service, to write 750 words a day. A bit like exercising, while I don't look forward to it, I always feel great afterwards.

Rest

All work and no play is said to make us dull. What ought to be said is that it makes us even more exhausted. Make time for play and fun. Watch a movie, play a game,replenish the spirit. But most importantly, get those eight hours of sleep. And have a vacation in the works, even if it's just a weekend or a duvet day (that sacred place, bed).

Find something to look forward to that will give you a "break" from your routine. Take time to get creative (see above) about new things you want to do or places you want to go. A change is always as good as a rest.

This list of self-care options is by no means complete. These are the ones that worked for me. Integrating these activities into my daily routine enabled optimism and sustained my sense of empowerment, as well as a host of other benefits. I noticed they led to higher-quality interactions with friends, family and colleagues. I enjoyed more peace of mind. They gave me a feeling of a fuller heart. All this to say, what we do is important. But it is not more important than who we are. If we don't take care of ourselves, we cannot properly serve others.

Perhaps a silver lining in this global reset allows public servants to remember that. And to put our own masks on first. — Fiona McLaughlin

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