Often, the new year begins with personal goals. New Year’s resolutions, some call them. You know them well: the typical behavior modifications of going to the gym, setting financial targets, or being nicer to your coworkers. These are all fantastic things to strive toward, but we should not forget to look deeper at our wellbeing. Why are we feeling a certain way? How long have we felt like this? Is change possible in the way that I want to accomplish it?
While you work on developing your own wellbeing goals, here are some to consider as we enter the new year:
Assess/Reassess your wellbeing with the PERMAH4PLUS tool
PERMAH is an internationally recognized framework focusing on positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning and purpose, achievement, and health. With the PERMAH4plus tool, you can put these pillars to work through a simple online assessment that takes about 10 minutes to complete.
Once finished, you’ll receive a downloadable wellbeing assessment personalized to your unique needs. This includes immediate results across the PERMAH pillars, information to help you interpret your scores, and insights to help you feel and perform better at work.
To maximize the assessment’s impact, we will also anonymize the data and share results and recommendations in a virtual presentation for your team.
By taking advantage of this opportunity, you’ll be able to make meaningful changes right away through personalized coaching reports, more than 200 positive psychology intervention options, and a better understanding of your unique wellbeing journey.
The following areas will be evaluated for you and your workplace:
- Positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning/purpose, achievement plus Health, Mindset, Economic Security & Environment.
- Workplace engagement and other “workplace nutrient” factors.
- Psychological safety on an individual, team and organizational level.
- Psychosocial hazards/risks and burnout.
- Compassion, appreciation, responsibility, and emotional wisdom (CARE) of leadership/organization.
Evaluate your internal temperature on a routine basis
Someone once asked me, “How often do you survey your own happiness?” What he meant was, “How frequently do I stop to recognize how I’m feeling and appreciate when it is happiness?” It was a simple question and an eye-opening one. I realized I had felt certain emotions, but I had never truly questioned why or taken the time to be thankful when those feelings were positive.
Yes, losing $20 as a young adult was a rational explanation for anger, but the reality was that I felt insecure about my financial stability and didn’t want to confront it directly. It wasn’t until I was older and more trained that I could have these conversations internally with greater clarity and impact.
Now, I try to routinely catch myself in moments of emotion. I try to truly evaluate why I’m feeling the way I am, beyond the surface explanation. I especially try to recognize when I am happy and appreciate how fortunate I am that it is the emotion that I am feeling at that given time.
Take action
“Action”, in this sense, could be any combination of things. Essentially, act in a manner that will lead you toward a better state of wellbeing. This could mean:
- Taking daily walks or spending a few minutes of routine time in tranquility.
- Meditating.
- Reaching out to a mentor for guidance.
- Spending time in areas where you have passion outside of your career.
- Do things that bring you recreational joy.
Seek support from a counselor or coach
Sometimes, we need support from an independent and trained professional, and that’s OK. As part of the Inspire program, we offer three free counseling or coaching sessions per person each year. We have a group of incredibly talented and empathetic individuals ready to help you overcome whatever challenges you may be facing. Don’t just take our word for it, listen to the anonymous feedback participants have shared with us:
“Kristen McCallum is awesome. I don’t know how I was so lucky to be matched with her. Her really understanding the veterinary industry made a huge difference of my feeling truly understood. I think FVMA’s Inspire program will make a positive difference in many people’s lives- I know it has for me. Thank you.”
“Using the Inspire program (from scheduling time on the platform to logging into sessions) was very simple and clear. I felt that I got support I needed with very low barrier to entry. One note I would add is to include some kind of simple way for people to continue to get support after they use their 3 sessions (even just a follow up email with resources), as well as tracking to show how many sessions they have used. Overall, I am extremely grateful for this service and see great value in it being part of the FVMA.”
“Such a great service to offer for those struggling. I was skeptical at first but then realized this has so many resources and my therapist was so helpful from just one session alone.”
Whether you’re setting new goals, analyzing your emotions, or taking that pivotal first step and reaching out for support through the FVMA’s Inspire program, remember that small, consistent actions can lead to meaningful change.