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Mental Vitality

Mental Vitality

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I often speak to people who hold positions within organizations where they are not sufficiently able to reach their full potential. Regardless of the underlying causes, this consumes a great deal of energy and comes at the expense of mental vitality. According to recent research by Statistics (CBS) Netherlands, one in five employees in the Netherlands experiences burnout symptoms.

What do you do as an organization to prevent your employee from “dropping out”? What do you do yourself to feel better about yourself?

Break
Take time to discover your feeling that something isn’t right. Seek guidance from people around you whom you trust. Expressing your sense of unease can already resolve a great deal. You can share this search with your supervisor or a confidential counsellor within your organization.

Mental Vitality

Breathe
Focus on the things that suit you. Draw your strength from them and give them space by taking a deep, ample breath. Everything can collapse except the power of your breath. Focus on the functioning of your nervous system in the breath you take in and exhale. You experience how breath, movement, and voice reinforce each other, and how your body can be a gateway to greater peace and vitality.

Ownership
Dare to admit that you do not fit into your current environment. You are responsible for your own happiness. Take this “ownership” by acting on it. Take action and let yourself be guided by charting your own course. You will thereby deal with setbacks more resiliently.

Employer
For employers, the investment in vitality is a valuable one. Research shows that a vitality program leads to greater happiness in the workplace, increased productivity, and a significant decrease in absenteeism. For every euro invested, 6 euros are earned back on the value of the investment in mental vitality.

Fallow Earth and best wishes for 2026

Fallow Earth

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The fallow period has begun. Farmers have celebrated their harvests with traditional festivals like Thanksgiving Day or other customs to honor nature for its bounty. Many people are still pushing themselves to the limit, not only at work but also at home. December demands a lot of attention to being a good person.

The most common ailment among young professionals is (moral) stress and its associated symptoms. This study clarifies what that means. Vitality assessment and consuming energy to recover well are principles that nature has long taught us.

The year 2025 is over. We’ve welcomed back the four seasons, which will return in 2026. We’ve had a year of pursuing goals, some of which we may or may not have achieved. We’ve plowed and reaped. With blood, sweat, and tears, we’ve worked to make something of it. To do what’s possible, and sometimes even more.

In our “high-tech-connected” world, we can be active 24/7. We know that knowledge is everywhere, that the future lies in skills like empathy and adaptability. We are connected to at least 3.4 “devices” and accept 5G speeds at a minimum. We boast about Artificial Intelligence and the joy we (think we can or will) experience with it.

And then we discover that the Earth rotates at its own speed, and therefore we need to adjust the atomic clock by one hundredth of a second. We learn that fruit from the local farmer or vegetables from our own garden is appealing. It also has its limitations; it’s not always available. We discover that water (even in the Netherlands) is becoming scarcer. We learn to become aware of the vulnerability of our existence through government-supported campaigns.

We know that winter is a time when we need to let the earth rest for a while. The fallow period can also apply to us.

Give yourself a moment of rest and recharge by doing things you truly enjoy. Discover what’s important to you and in this way, nourish your batteries with new energy.
A new season is coming, when the fallow earth can be cultivated and leads to harvests.

 

Blessings in the new year!