How to de-mystify self-care at work

As the penultimate speaker at Ragan’s inaugural live Workplace Wellness Conference, keynoter Jeanette Bronée stated a simple but profound truth: Being human is not something to fix. “We are not a problem to solve here,” she said.

Bronée has made a career out of helping professionals harness their human advantage to take better care of themselves, at work and at home. And it starts with acknowledging how often we ask ourselves, “What do I need?” While we often ask others at work that question, we tend to not ask ourselves.

“But (what) if we could be more curious, if we could engage in a way that gives us back agency to take care of our own needs, and even know what we need so that we can harness our human advantage?” Bronée asked the audience. “What if that’s all self-care is?”

Rethinking how we describe spending time       

Bronée also pointed out how, because we are constantly rushing, it can feel that we’re against time.

“We’re always talking about having time (and how we) don’t have time,” she said. “And we also take time to say thank you for taking time to be here. I don’t want to say that.”

Instead, she normally thanks people for their care and attention, or for sharing ideas.