Creating a movement at Ideas Fest

On the 9th of September I stepped onto the MicDrop stage at Ideas Fest with three minutes to talk about the thing that matters most to me: mental fitness being as important as our physical fitness.

Why?
1 in 4 of us experience periods of poor mental health each year, yet there is still so much stigma about talking openly about it. In the workplace so many people are scared to open up in fear of what may happen to their careers, and others are worried about asking people if they are okay in case they say something wrong.

We can change this.

This video extract of my 3+ min talk contains a model I created to help build and maintain my mental fitness. I try to live by it (we are all perfectly imperfect) and share it with you in case it helps. I call the model STARS:

S – Stop: take two minutes of your time to pause
T – Think: what do I need right now?
A – Acknowledge how you're really feeling (be honest)
R – Reset/Restore: know your energisers and your energy zappers
S – Seek support, from friends, family, colleagues or professionals

As the world speeds up, we need to slow down and be more human, with ourselves and each other. That means being honest about how we are feeling and being vulnerable to share that.

Watch the full version of the video here and let me know what you think.