I write a lot about the need for positivity. I am really aware of the issues that surround mental health and well-being. Much is made of it in the mainstream press, in the workplace and on social media. However I think we need to consider the three issues above. Positivity is not always possible and sometimes it would be foolhardy in the face of some of the challenges that we face. In particular in the workplace.
In the last week two examples have come to light that make me want to say more about this. I saw a friend from the UK about a week ago who has recently left her post. Like me she worked in Higher Education. The pressure of the job had quite honestly become too much. What I find particularly galling is that the institution has now employed two people to replace her. How can this be reasonable? So for several years they have had her working to her detriment and now that she has finally walked away they have said that they need to employ more people to do the job. The exact same thing happened to my husband, albeit in a different sector. His line manager stated that they were experimenting to see whether it was possible to run the department with a head only and no deputy. When he broke, they decided otherwise.
I do not think we should be trying to be positive in these situations. Instead where we need to remain employed we need to develop pragmatic strategies to protect ourselves and to ensure that both our physical and mental well being is protected. We need practical coping strategies. However we also need to begin to challenge employers who are doing this. I know that neither my husband nor I could go back to our sectors and work full-time. Luckily we are near to retirement age and are able to find different approaches to bringing in an income. Our children are no longer at school and that also makes a difference to what we are able to do.
This week I read this article in the Guardian and was quite honestly shocked by what it was saying. I was unaware that Higher Education is now one of the the most casualised industries in the UK. The idea that the majority of seminars at Cambridge University are given by lecturers on hourly contracts is quite honestly repugnant. How is this in any way ok? And why is it being allowed to happen? https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/oct/30/my-students-never-knew-the-lecturer-who-lived-in-a-tent
I think that the lecturer living in a tent is probably an extreme; however no permanent contract will certainly make acquiring accommodation, be it rented or with a mortgage, extremely challenging. Secure accommodation is a basic human need. We cannot think that a mindfulness session at work is going to help in this situation. Instead practical solutions need to be found. It cannot be acceptable for one of the richest nations in the world to be treating workers in this way.
A few years ago I published a book on Flourishing, another term for well-being and mindfulness. That particular book addressed ways in which children can be supported to flourish. I did however, address the need for practitioners, those working with the children, to flourish. You can engage in mindfulness and positivity however if our practical needs have not been met no mindfulness is going to make it better. So whilst I regularly discuss mindfulness, positivity and well-being I also recognise that there are times when these are not enough. I know that there is a housing crisis in the UK. It would seem that there is also an employment crisis. When institutions can effectively render an individual incapable of working without any consequences this will only continue. I applied for retirement on grounds of ill health. It was denied because; within the then next 12 years I “might be able to teach small groups”. That hardly demonstrates me as fit to return to the workplace. As individuals we are unlikely to make a difference but perhaps we need to consider how we can start to support change. Housing and the workplace are so significant maybe not to us, but for our children and grandchildren, those generations following us.
So this weekend I will be practicing positivity; I am going to pilates shortly. I will engage with my crochet. However I will also be holding in mind that there are times when we need to recognise that positivity is not enough.
Tales from the Sheshed France 
You are of course spot on Zenna. I’ve always belonged to and supported a Trades Union because (although they are not perfect) it’s much easier to be positive when we feel someone has our well-being covered. The difficulty for virtually all of us is that we HAVE to work – and although we are paid we are often at the mercy of the organisations that pay us. We don’t often have the choice to walk away, even though staying is harming us. The casualisation of work and the cost and insecurity of housing only adds to the harm (physical and mental) of the ‘slave-labourer’. I pity our poor children:grandchildren who are likely to live in this perpetual insecurity.
When we write about human flourishing, little did we know that things would go from bad to really bad. Poverty and injustice will continue to harm all of us – and even the wealthy cannot buy the peace of mind they seek
What saddens me the most is that we have been the most fortunate generation ever – yet it has come to the sad state of affairs currently
HHDL claims the point of being is to be happy – I try- but sometimes my heart breaks when I consider the plight of the oppressed.
Let’s sing, dance, walk in the woods, and try hard to focus on all that’s best. Be creative, love one another and travel to the place where positivity reigns 🙏🏽🌸🙏🏽
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Thank you for your response. I have also been in a union all my working life but they have been continuously marginalised and they have little clout. It is frightening what is happening. We do need to enjoy our environment and to be kind to each other. I just hope that we don’t see too many more people burnt out. 😏
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It’s true the unions have been decimated. I still can’t believe how many people I know have been forced to retire early because organisations chew them up and spit them out
I love you’ve moved to France because I remember that’s what you’ve always wanted. I know it will work for you andChris because you are both talented and both grafters. One day at a time. Lots of dog walking and superb French wine 🤗🤗🤗
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Absolutely but we live in a house that is far from finished, many wouldn’t cope with what we live in. And of course we have a much reduced income and with everything that has happened over the last year we haven’t had the opportunity to see much of our children which is the downside of being here. I’ll go back to my French wine 🍷
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That’s a very interesting piece Zenna and thought provoking. I always understood pragmatism to be in and within its concepts a positive thing. Being a goal focused approach it can only surely be positive. If this is indeed the concept and understanding of pragmatism then it would lead to being a positive thought process, one which is being goal focused.
The internalisation of being goal focused is itself a positive act. As goals are always in the future and our experience is always in the present, it would be a positive process to see pragmatically an organisational strategy and without applying emotions to that strategy, be able to pragmatically apply a set of objectives and a plan to reach an alternative goal or outcome.
I can’t think of a situation ever in life where it is not the best option to remain or search within ourselves for a possible outcome of an experience. That doesn’t of course infer that the experience itself has to have been positive, but our opportunity to find positivity from the experience is always a beneficial choice for better equipping ourselfves for the next hurdle in life. Mindfulness is the little bit that is always the present experience, whatever it is. What we choose to do with that experience is what shapes our next experience and how we internalise that experience. Whatever we focus on expands, so I always strive to seek out the positive action in whatever it is that I sometimes find difficult.
Well that’s a lot of words !! I need a little lay down now !!!
Hope you have a really wonderful weekend. Xxx
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I haven’t ignored your response and I have had to spend some time thinking about it. Yes I think that pragmatism is positive but it is not the same as positivity. I think for me pragmatism is about finding a way to to back some control in situations that are damaging and debilitating. So yes it is positive but often in the face of adversity.
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No problem Zenna ! Doing something that feels positive in the face of adversity is absolutely right. By doing that you are and can, remain pragmatic and still look for a solution. Whatever the solution might be, it is the process of seeking a solution that is the positive act. In your case, removing yourself from the work situation was in fact a positive thing for your health and wellbeing even though it didn’t feel like a balanced choice at the time perhaps. Sometimes we simply can not change the thing that is so obviously the root of the problem but we can always make a decision that benefits ourself , however small. Now that you are healing you might feel that through your understanding and personal experience that you are better placed and stronger to support others in the same situation. As to how you change the very core of the problem, the work environment itself, well, that is why it carries on as it is, doing the same to others. It is almost impossible to effect change in a meaningful way when you have a workforce who are downtrodden and undervalued. In itself, that is why those systems remain, because they have beaten all positivity out of their employees. It’s their model of work and for the organisation, it works ! Unfortunately these systems are never in place to be at the benefit of their employees, but to work in ways to diminish their value and keep them submissive. Xx
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Thank you. This is really useful. I am thinking /hoping that I might use the blog as the basis for a book. Every so often I think I can begin to write the synopsis but then I lose it again. This actually is helping me to clarify my thoughts again.
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Oh yeah, sometimes positivity is not enough, and that’s when we have to go through the motions, to do the things that are good for us, despite what we feel. Because the emotions will pass, but the results of our actions do remain. Anyway, thanks for this post!
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Thank you for your response. Long term I am hoping to use this blog to consider how we can achieve a positive approach to life where damaging situations are avoided.
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