Empowered Women in Trades joined Bunnings Newcastle for a networking event that brought together tradeswomen and allies to connect and share experiences. (Images: Empowered Women in Trades)
Construction may be tough, but Empowered Women in Trades believes that overcoming challenges begins with prioritising wellbeing.
By Melinda Davis, GM of Empowered Women in Trades.
As the Empowered Women in Trades (EWIT) team has been travelling across the country, a common theme keeps coming up in our conversations: people are exhausted. Life can get busy – juggling work, personal commitments, family and more. Sometimes, trying to keep all the balls in the air can make you feel overwhelmed, tired and unmotivated. Navigating this in the moment can be challenging.
With cold winter mornings, sunsets at 5pm and long dark nights, we thought now was the time to remind you that looking after your wellbeing is critical. No matter what your role is in construction, from apprentice to project manager, each day throws a unique set of challenges that can impact our moods.
Having a bad day is not that uncommon. How do you combat bad days? There are things we can do to instantly start to feel better and improve our moods. Emotions and feelings are part of being human.
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There are things we can do to help control how our emotions impact us by using some of these mood busters:
- Feeling sad? Try practicing gratitude, doing something for someone else, or giving someone a compliment. It does not have to be big – small things count just as much.
- Feeling angry? Sing. Bust out a tune and throw in some dance moves. Our recommendation is a bit of Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit or Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.
- Feeling tired? Take a quick walk – even 10 minutes will get the endorphins flowing.
- Overthinking things? Write them down, record a voice memo on your phone, make a list – move it out of your mind. Calling a friend is great for this.
- Feeling anxious? Slow down your breathing. Turn your lungs into balloons and focus on slowly blowing them up and then deflating them over and over again.
- Feeling stressed? Try some exercise. I personally swear by swimming as a stress buster and catalyst for clarity and brilliant ideas.
- Feeling impatient? Reflect on progress. Take a moment to look back on achievements, goals and lessons learned along the way.
- Feeling lazy? It happens. Try a cold shower or splash some cold water on your face. Cold showers are known to combat the symptoms of depression.
A longer-term option is the PERMA model of psychological wellbeing, something we practice regularly at EWIT. Developed by Martin Seligman, PERMA has five elements that he believes we need to address to support our overall wellbeing – positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishments.
EWIT offers a range of events using PERMA to support the wellbeing of our community. Our Women in Trades networking events not only deliver practical information on trade pathways and career development opportunities, but they are also designed to support wellbeing. By creating connections (relationships) with others, we celebrate the successes of our village (accomplishments), provide a structured experience with interactive activities (engagement), have fun and share a laugh (positive emotions), and connect with people who have common goals (meaning). People leave our networking events feeling good, and we love that.
An exercise we like to undertake in our experience trades programs is completing a strengths assessment with each person to help them understand the things they excel at. We unpack what this means, how it can be used in the workplace, and how valuable these strengths can be to a workplace. The best part? We paint our top five strengths in an individual piece that acts as a personal reminder of how impressive we are – brilliant for moments of self-doubt or when imposter syndrome may sneak in.
We challenge you to make your wellbeing a priority. Take time to focus on yourself, do things that fill your bucket and surround yourself with people who create positive emotions. We also send an open invitation to join our EWIT events across the country.
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