The GAB is excited to share our first guest post. What benefits are you missing out on? From limited access due to COVID to never having used some services, our guest author Kristy Papas dives into her experience exploring with the benefits program. And not, I'm not talking about the fee coffee and tea! Although I do miss the office fruit basket.
Our body and our mind both need TLC and I am not talking about the chasing waterfalls kind. We need to take the time and opportunity to check in with ourselves. Like cars, we must have regular maintenance check ups. With this in mind, I wonder how many people realize the tools available to support this important, but often neglected, component of our lives. Putting aside the stigmas or your other priorities, there is a lot of support out there for our mental health and general wellbeing. Stop and think when did you last take the opportunity to look at what benefits your employer offers you in the way of paramedical resources or wellness spending opportunities. By paramedical, I am referring to psychologists, counsellors, registered massage therapists (RMT), physiotherapy, acupuncturists and more. By wellness spending opportunities, I mean purchasing ski passes, gym memberships, at home fitness equipment. The potential list goes on and on and on. I encourage you to stop and investigate what options are at your fingertips. Options that make important resources more affordable or accessible to you. I don’t think we should overuse our benefits as that inevitably increases premium costs for the collective whole. However, if there is a genuine need or even a general curiosity to improve your overall health and wellbeing then I encourage you to get in tune with your body and mind and identify the key areas you want to give some attention to. I know for myself two areas I really benefited from were therapy sessions for my mind and RMT sessions for my body. We spend a lot of time grinding away in a non-ergonomic work environment or perhaps not stretching before and after a workout so having someone work on any pain points or tension can be incredibly beneficial. There are also some of us that spend a lot of time internally wrestling with some important issues and struggles. Having a professionally trained, unbiased person to confide in is therapeutic. It allows us to lean into our thoughts and our feelings and hopefully gives us the capacity to outgrow them or take back the power they wield over us. No matter what you want to work on for yourself, internally or externally, I invite you to find some minutes sooner rather than later to look at what choices are available to you. Reach out to your Human Resources department or Benefits provider for more information. Your body, mind and soul, and perhaps even those around you, will be thankful for this small effort that you put in to prioritizing you. I promise you will not regret it! About our guest author: Kristy Papas is an digital content creator focusing on stop motion animation, photography, and recipe development. In a past life Kristy did your payroll! If you want you follow Kristy's work, or work with her, you can find her on Instagram, connect with Kristy on LinkedIn or through her website. Comments are closed.
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