Through the past year, we have been interacting with various individuals and their systems to support in more holistic wellbeing approaches.

When the individual is stressed/distressed/unwell, it will impact the system; When the system is stressed/distressed/unwell, it will impact the individual.

 Let us give two examples :

Zhi is the sole breadwinner of his household. He has a wife, 2 children and also his parents and his in-laws to support and care for.

His wife, parents and parents-in-law have part-time and temporary work, to keep active and engaged, physically, mentally, financially and spiritually. It helps to supplement family income, and it provides something to keep individuals occupied, so that they are also more emotionally regulated, with these extended forms of support.

A few months back, Zhi was impacted at work by multiple challenges : 

• his colleagues were starting to badmouth him

• his superiors started to question his work and ethics at work

• the projects that he was working on came to a pause

• there is a threat to his work stability and financial security, as he might be let go at any time

• he started to become worried about his ability and his security at work

This impacted his relationships back home, as his anxieties start to rise : He becomes a bit more irritable and less patient with his wife and children; He feels more tired, and instead of resting, you pushes himself to do more.

Not understanding what was happening at work at the start, Zhi's wife and him got into arguments a lot more, and the children witnessed and experienced the tension between their parents. When eventually the wife learnt about what is happening at the workplace for Zhi, she decided to step up, to work more, so as to assure him that the financial aspects of the family will still be taken care of.

The stresses that she experienced also caused her to fall ill more often, and also end up having to stay at home a lot more. The children also started to fall sick a lot more during this period, and start to miss school from time to time. Some say it is because of the viruses in the air. Possible, and we are also aware that when we are stressed, our immunity is also impacted.

Meldini learnt since childhood, that the way she can excel, is through hard work. For her to achieve good results in school, she had to study hard. The moment she took a break, played around, enjoyed her hobbies, her academic results took a hit.

So she grew up believing that as long as she worked hard, as long as she could plan well, and have everything in her control, she will be able to excel in life. And this led her to start her own business. It was never a dream to be an entrepreneur; more like a manifestation of an inner need. This belief was reinforced by her mother's constant reminder to work hard, don't be distracted, keep studying, and also by her brother's success in his own career, that he too studied really hard to be able to be successful in life, becoming a doctor.

Throughout the past 20 years of her life, each time Meldini wanted a project to take off, she wanted a business to succeed, she started to drive and push and take control. It has become a habit. She gave the reason that it was for excellence. She convinced her colleagues and her staff to do the same, only to experience burnout within the businesses she started, and also in herself, though she could not recognise the signs.

A few years back, Meldini was diagnosed with a chronic illness, one that came seemingly suddenly, as there were no prior signs and symptoms, and there was no pain nor much suffering prior to the sudden onset. She was shocked, and decided to relinquish her duties and responsibilities in a bid to be able to rest more, relax more.

It was all good for a while, for a few years, as she slowed down, healed and recovered. The chronic illness was under control, and Meldini started to feel like she needed to do something again, to take charge, take control, because financially, the more relaxed and restful lifestyle was not able to sustain her expenditures. She thought she was well enough, to be more driven again.

The moment she decided to jump in and do more, the body issued warning signals to slow down, as the chronic illness took a turn for the worse. She is at a loss now, as the engine has been started on new projects, and to bring them to a pause again, would impact the bottom line significantly, and also her own beliefs and value of herself.

So instead of earning more money by pushing forward, she will now incur costs on medical bills. And also cause worry and concern to the family, such as her aging parents and her sibling.

As you probably noticed from the 2 cases shared above, there is an impact on system on the individual and their wellbeing, and also an impact of the individual on systems and the wellbeing.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was suddenly a strong push for self-care, and during that season, it was important to fully recover from the virus, before heading back to work, and even to the family. There is actually an underlying perspective of "keep self well, so as to keep the system (family/work/community) well". This was not articulated and communicated sufficiently, and thus it came off more as "self-care" than social care.

Eventually, the system started to push back against the "self-care" movement, because no one was taking care of the system. Or rather, those who were left in the system to take care of it, started to burnout, which led to the "Great Resignation" period.

Having seen and witnessed all of these from afar, we are concerned, and we would like to contribute to supporting Community Wellbeing, through this means of this organisation. So that individuals AND systems can be well.

With our ability to notice patterns of behaviour, to communicate the challenges, and to be able to address these through meaningful, holistic and humanistic engagement, we hope to be able to support individuals and organisastions/communities to see itself as it is now, and to appreciate the nuances and shifts in the systems and self, to become better versions of ourselves.

Will you let us support you?