Permission to Be Well

Originally written in 2020 for Chopra, at the start of the pandemic.

If there was ever a time to truly give yourself permission to be well, it is now.

It is easy to get caught up in the chaos and in panic. The panic causes us to overthink everything, fills us with fear, and sends us all into survival mode.

And as long as we are stuck in that space, we will never be able to see the greater message from the universe. The message that says, “This is the time for you. This is the time for you to focus on what matters. This is the time for you to give your body and your mind what they need in order to be healthy. This is the time for you to be home. To pause. To be grounded. To simplify and to recharge. This is the time to truly permit yourself to be well.”

But what does it mean to give yourself permission to be well?

It means that when the opportunity arises to prioritize your health or happiness, you take it. It means that when you know you are exhausted, you permit yourself to rest. It means that when you need to take a break to have lunch, you take the time to sit and enjoy your meal. It means that when your children are seeking your attention without distraction, you permit yourself to tend to them and to truly enjoy them. And it means learning to tell yourself, “Nothing is more important than my health, my vitality, and the things that feed my soul.”

But putting our wellbeing first takes practice, especially when difficult circumstances make it seem nearly impossible.

Perhaps that’s why we’ve gotten into this global mess to begin with. Perhaps the universe is saying: you all need to stop and make your wellbeing a priority, because you haven’t done a very good job of it until now.

We have to develop the ability to self-regulate: to know what’s important for our mind, our body, and our spirit, to actively seek it, and to get better at communicating what we need to those around us.

And our places of work play a crucial role in this.

So many people fail to make their wellbeing a priority because they feel their boss or colleagues will look down on it. They worry they will be seen as weaker, less committed, or less productive. Yet everyone, at every level of the organization, faces the same challenges in managing their own stress, physical health, and time for themselves and their loved ones.

This is where business leaders and CEOs need to take responsibility. The workplace needs a wake-up call to realize the detrimental impact that work is having on people’s lives.

According to a study of 3,000 people, 61% said workplace stress had made them physically sick. There is even a so-called Black Monday Syndrome, because more people have heart attacks on Monday morning than at any other time of the week. And the American Institute of Stress maintains that job stress costs US employers more than $300 billion a year.

This means that leaders and managers have enormous power to improve people’s lives, and they can do it by giving their employees permission to be well.

When they do, employees start to feel free, as if the reins have been loosened and a weight has been lifted off their shoulders.

It begins with leaders at the highest level setting the example: making their own lives and wellbeing a priority, giving themselves permission to be well, and making that known. When they do, employees will naturally see that it’s okay for them to do the same.

What does this look like?

It means openly communicating your wellbeing needs as a leader. Say explicitly how you’re making sleep a priority, talk about how you make time to work out or meditate, and be intentionally unreachable during the time you spend with your family. Brag about these things instead of bragging about your lack of time, your lack of sleep, or how busy you are.

Wear your wellbeing on your sleeve.

It means letting employees know that they are truly not expected to be “on” all the time, and that in fact they should be off. And then it means acknowledging the people who succeed in doing so.

There’s a major issue in the corporate world: employees feel a constant sense of guilt. They feel guilty if they aren’t responsive enough, fast enough, in the office enough, smart enough, productive enough. This is a product of a high-tech, hyper-connected world where we think ideas must move into execution at lightning speed, and where there is very little time for conscious, creative thought. We have to actively fight for those things.

And while more and more workplaces offer flexible work policies or say they care about employee wellbeing, far too often employees feel that it isn’t enforced or felt.

This needs to stop. And there has never been a better time to stop, to pause, than right now, in the midst of this global pandemic.

We must all truly support one another in being well. We must give ourselves, our colleagues, our teams, and our organizations real permission to do so.

With permission comes peace of mind. With peace of mind comes conscious action. And with conscious action, we can find far greater solutions, even spiritual solutions, that can help elevate humanity in a way that has us emerge from this crisis stronger, healthier, happier, and wiser than we have ever been.

Danielle Posa