For those of us who have flown, the pre-flight preamble regarding safety, where to find things on the plane, who the pilots and attendants are, is most likely the time we tune out and settle in for the flight ahead. WestJet’s more casual and creative approach to the required presentation may grab our attention for a moment, but I would guess not for long. It is information we all must have but hope never to need.
When I have listened to it, the part that always got my attention was when the flight attendant would mention the oxygen mask that would drop out of the overhead compartment in case cabin pressure was lost. If this were to happen, we are told to put on our own masks first before helping any small children or others who may need our assistance with their masks. On some level this seems counter-intuitive to me. For most of us our first thought would be to help the child sitting beside us with their mask and then deal with ours.
I assume most of us are aware of the purpose for this. In this scenario if we do not take care of ourselves first there is a significant risk that we may end up not being in any kind of shape to actually help the person beside us, and both of us could suffer. This situation requires self-care to be a priority in order to help others.
This idea fits into a healthy workplace somewhere. Usually when we talk about great teams, great places to work, great people to work with, etc., we talk about some measure of self-sacrifice or ‘taking one for the team’ as a virtue or necessity. Great teams are made up of people who are willing to help one another. But sometimes, when the situation requires it, perhaps self-care needs to be the priority.
I am not encouraging a ‘me first’ mentality, but I think there are those moments when we realize that we need to spend some time taking care of ourselves; our own schedules, tasks, priorities, or health before we can genuinely help someone else. Before helping another, what is initially required is for us to take a step back and make sure we are taking care of the things we need to. Being aware of where we are at and how we are doing is a key piece to being a good teammate. As an example, finding this balance between our needs and the needs of others might be important in managing stress in the workplace.
I have been pondering this a little more as of late because the holiday season is close by. In my conversations with people most have expressed how busy the fall has been and how much they are looking forward to a break later this month. Personally I cannot believe it is already the middle of December – the fall has gone by so quickly. When the pace is this fast there often isn’t time to pause and make sure you are doing enough for yourself in order to be truly of benefit to others.
So as the holiday season arrives, may you and yours find some time to take a step back, relax, and enjoy some moments of peace.
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Taking A Step Back
When I have listened to it, the part that always got my attention was when the flight attendant would mention the oxygen mask that would drop out of the overhead compartment in case cabin pressure was lost. If this were to happen, we are told to put on our own masks first before helping any small children or others who may need our assistance with their masks. On some level this seems counter-intuitive to me. For most of us our first thought would be to help the child sitting beside us with their mask and then deal with ours.
I assume most of us are aware of the purpose for this. In this scenario if we do not take care of ourselves first there is a significant risk that we may end up not being in any kind of shape to actually help the person beside us, and both of us could suffer. This situation requires self-care to be a priority in order to help others.
This idea fits into a healthy workplace somewhere. Usually when we talk about great teams, great places to work, great people to work with, etc., we talk about some measure of self-sacrifice or ‘taking one for the team’ as a virtue or necessity. Great teams are made up of people who are willing to help one another. But sometimes, when the situation requires it, perhaps self-care needs to be the priority.
I am not encouraging a ‘me first’ mentality, but I think there are those moments when we realize that we need to spend some time taking care of ourselves; our own schedules, tasks, priorities, or health before we can genuinely help someone else. Before helping another, what is initially required is for us to take a step back and make sure we are taking care of the things we need to. Being aware of where we are at and how we are doing is a key piece to being a good teammate. As an example, finding this balance between our needs and the needs of others might be important in managing stress in the workplace.
I have been pondering this a little more as of late because the holiday season is close by. In my conversations with people most have expressed how busy the fall has been and how much they are looking forward to a break later this month. Personally I cannot believe it is already the middle of December – the fall has gone by so quickly. When the pace is this fast there often isn’t time to pause and make sure you are doing enough for yourself in order to be truly of benefit to others.
So as the holiday season arrives, may you and yours find some time to take a step back, relax, and enjoy some moments of peace.
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2012 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Comments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.