Wellness Wednesday Issue #65

✅ Today’s checklist: 

• Ditch the 3 C’s of negative self-talk
• Joanna gets personal on addiction
• TA reader Nicole shares her wellness tip

🤔 Trivia:  Which gas is responsible for making our voice box vibrate when we speak? Find out.

👀 See all of the March 2024 Wellness Wednesday Trivias.

🗣️ Speaking Up: Tips to make your voice heard in the workplace, no matter the situation.

👩‍🍳 Meal prep: Cook 20 healthy meals in just 1 hour.

💭 Leadership: Why leaders need to schedule “thinking time”.

⚠️ Company Culture: How to fix a toxic workplace culture.

😌 Coping Strategy: 30 grounding techniques to quiet distressing thoughts.

WOW…

In the past 24 hours, we’ve had over 3,127 TA readers opt-in for the free “Motivation Monday” Weekly SMS!

🚨 We had to call in an emergency favor to increase our capacity from 1000 to 5000 SMS subscribers so we could handle the extra demand.

Here are the deets (75k readers, 5000 1873 spots left):

• It’s free, opt-out anytime
• 1st SMS goes out Monday, April 1, 2024
• This is for the TA fam only (please don’t share the link)
• Get on the Early Bird list now before all spaces are taken

👉 Join Motivation Monday SMS Early Bird List

P.S. SMS is for US readers only.

We all have an inner voice, but for many, this voice can be overly critical, demeaning, and detrimental to our well-being.

This voice, known as negative self-talk, can manifest as constant self-doubt, self-blame, and negative comparisons to others.

Over time, this internal dialogue can erode self-esteem, increase stress and anxiety, and even contribute to depression.

The good news is that negative self-talk is a habit that can be broken.

By recognizing the patterns and employing strategies rooted in mindfulness and self-compassion, you can transform your inner critic into an ally.

The 3 Cs of negative self-talk:

1. Comparing yourself to others
2. Criticizing your every move
3. Complaining about everything wrong in your life

These traps can be triggered by a variety of factors, including past traumas, societal pressures, and learned behaviors from childhood.

By identifying your personal triggers, you can start to catch negative self-talk in the act.

Strategies to overcome negative self-talk:

1. Challenge Negative Thoughts: When you catch yourself in a negative thought pattern, pause and interrogate that thought. Is it based on fact or emotion? Is there evidence to the contrary?
2. Practice Self-Compassion: Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a good friend. Acknowledge your humanity and give yourself permission to be imperfect.
3. Reframe Failures as Opportunities: Instead of dwelling on failures, view them as opportunities for growth and learning. Celebrate your resilience and ability to bounce back.
4. Cultivate Gratitude: Make a habit of acknowledging the good in your life. This shifts your focus away from perceived lacks and towards abundance.
5. Surround Yourself with Positivity: Seek out people, activities, and environments that uplift and inspire you. Limit your exposure to negative influences where possible.

Read more about this and the 8 types of negative thinking patterns here.

A great way to foster better relationships between you and your boss or direct report is through one-on-one meetings.

The perfect 1:1 meeting template keeps all of your agendas and action items — tailored for each individual — in one organized place.

⭐ This template does just that by laying out roles, expectations, and how to best implement a feedback cycle.

📄 Get the 1:1 meeting template free here.

*Presented by ClickUp.

This past weekend, I got news that one of my high school classmates recently OD’d.

I will always remember her as the funny, boisterous, punk rock loving girl I made friends with our freshman year.

The news of her death threw me back mentally into 2020 when my family and I discovered my brother’s meth addiction.

It was 3 years of pure hell after that — and sadly, that’s not even a long time compared to many others in a similar situation.

And unless you’ve had to deal with an addict before, nothing really prepares you for it —

• the wedge it drives between you and your other family members
• the way your friends have no idea how to address it with you
• the grief you experience because you feel like you’ve lost your loved one (even though they’re physically still here)
• feeling mentally and emotionally exhausted, while also feeling like you’re not doing enough to help
• experiencing your loved one acting like a completely different person
• bouncing between hope and hopelessness

But there were a few things that helped me during those turbulent times:

• my husband’s support
• talking with friends who experienced a loved one with substance abuse
• weekly therapy sessions
• attending virtual Al-Anon & Nar-Anon groups
• writing in this gratitude journal daily

Learning more about addiction was also key for my family to be able to approach my brother in an empathetic way, identify triggers, be supportive without enabling, and recognizing signs and symptoms.

Here are some suggested reads:

• Beyond Addiction
• Understanding addiction
• How to help addicts
• Signs & symptoms of addiction

To anyone out there who is currently facing this battle (on either side), know that you are not alone.

There is a community of people who understand your pain and are ready to support you.

And to anyone who has lost a loved one to addiction, my heart goes out to you.

May you find comfort in the memories of the vibrant, loving person they were, and may their story inspire others to seek help and support.

  Joanna Ericta (Co-Founder of TA)

Bonusly has spent the last 11 years helping companies (big and small) boost company morale, so it’s safe to say they know a thing or two about standout employee recognition.

For all you managers out there, they’ve even put together a Complete Manager’s Guide to Employee Recognition to give tips on how you can increase employee engagement, retention, and productivity.
It also includes:

• Recognition examples and ideas
• Top resources to improve your culture and sharpen your leadership skills
• How top managers use recognition to build better teams.

Get the free guide here.

📝 Spruce up your office supplies with this “Vintage” color palette of sticky notes. We’re all about finding little joys in work and these hit the assignment.

📚 If you want to level up your leadership skills and have more impactful conversations at work, check out Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier.

🫶🏻 Confidence and self-doubt is a common struggle our TA community faces — check out this Self-Love Workbook to help you build confidence and self-love.

📄 Get our free “Employee Favorite Things” Template to make gifting and team building planning a breeze by getting to know your team’s preferences.