Finding Anchor Points Amidst Overwhelming Systemic Challenges
In recent weeks, I’ve been responding to the significant concerns expressed by those working in the NDIS and the Victorian public hospital system. Budgetary pressures are placing unprecedented strain on an already exhausted workforce.
The response to the free "Caring Costs: Addressing the Current Toll on Healthcare Professionals" webinars I am offering has been overwhelming.
Please note: These free webinars commence Monday 29th July so register with the link below if you are interested.
I’ve been reflecting on the confidential concerns and questions you've shared. The level of despair, overwhelm, and despondency is significant. Almost all responses speak to unparalleled levels of burnout, uncertainty, disillusionment, and concern for both personal and colleagues' well-being and career longevity. The systems are letting down clients, professionals, professional standards, and appropriate levels of care.
Of course, there are no easy answers or superficial tips to cope with this current situation. My aim is to acknowledge the experience, emotions, trauma, and suffering being experienced by some of our community, creating practical spaces through webinars to support those facing these challenges.
For those of you not in the midst of these challenges right now, I encourage you to reach out and touch base with your professional colleagues who are working in these contexts. It can be a very isolating and alienating time, and feeling like no one cares only amplifies this.
What Can Be Helpful at These Times?
I don’t know what is best for you during difficult times, but I find a combination of:
- Acknowledging the situation and what is unfolding
- Giving myself permission to feel and express my emotions
- Connecting with my personal and professional supports
- Identifying and engaging with my ‘anchor points’
In this newsletter, I specifically want to focus on identifying and engaging with anchor points.
Anchor Points
Anchor points can be a range of resources that help increase our energy, elevate our outlook, and help us find inspiration, connection, and hope during difficult times.
Anchor points provide an internal or immediate resource that reminds us that there is life, purpose, and meaning beyond the current situation we are facing. Anchor points remind us too that others have faced similar crises before and will again in the future.
What Are Useful Anchor Points?
Anchor points can be anything that helps us constructively manage during tough times.
Anchor points can be many different things: practices, words, thoughts, music, imagery, art, activities, values, stories, books, movies, relationships, rituals or experiences that ground us and give us strength. They are uniquely individual, so what works for you, is not necessarily going to work for your colleague.
Amidst the chaos, finding and engaging with our anchor points helps us stay grounded and reminds us why we do what we do and that there is a future beyond this present moment.
Anchor points are like the roots of a tree in a storm. They hold you steady, no matter how strong the winds of challenges and change may blow.
Without identifying and holding onto anchor points, we may become overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness and burnout. We may even unintentionally anchor to the very difficulties we are experiencing, by ruminating on them, more than is helpful. So below are some reflective questions that may help you identify your own anchor points.
Reflective Questions to Identify Anchor Points
1. Sustaining Resources: What quotes, music, art, stories, books, poetry, or other similar forms provide you with sustenance through difficult times?
- Ideas include collecting helpful quotes, crafting unique playlists of music for difficult times, finding inspiration in stories, saving an inspiring blog for difficult moments.
2. Fulfilment: What moments in your work have brought you the greatest sense of fulfilment?
- Reflect on specific instances where you felt deeply satisfied and connected to your purpose. What was happening during these moments?
3. Core Values: What core values guide your professional practice?
- Consider the guiding principles and values that are most important to you. How do they shape your life, your daily work and interactions with clients?
4. Relationships: Who are the people in your life that provide you with support and encouragement?
- Identify individuals who uplift you and remind you of your strengths. How are you staying connected with them right now?
5. Daily Self-Care Habits: What activities or practices help you recharge and regain your sense of balance?
- Think about the habits that rejuvenate you. How can you incorporate these into your routine more consistently?
6. Positive Impact: What impact have you made on your clients’ lives that you are most proud of?
- Reflect on the positive changes you’ve facilitated for your clients. How do these successes reinforce your commitment to your work?
7. Daily Rituals: How can you create small, meaningful rituals in your workday to ground yourself?
- Consider integrating simple practices that bring a sense of calm and focus. What could these rituals look like?
8. Progress: How can you remind yourself of your progress and growth over time?
- Reflect on how far you’ve come in your career. What milestones and achievements can you acknowledge?
In 2020, during Melbourne's long lockdowns, I create a large sticky note for my bathroom mirror that had the list of my anchor points below. It was a great way morning and night to remind myself of what I could control, in a sea of living that seemed very much outside of my control.
Appreciate
Meditate
Caffeinate
Hydrate
Activate
Elevate
When things feel hopeless, identifying and engaging with anchor points can provide a much-needed sense of stability and purpose.
By reflecting on moments of fulfilment, core values, supportive relationships, and rejuvenating practices, we can maintain our resilience and continue to make a meaningful impact.
Anchor points serve as reminders of the positive differences made, reinforcing the importance of our work even amidst the most challenging circumstances.
Please let me know what you found helpful in this article and if you want more newsletters like this at this time.