Top tips to improve your wellbeing from this year’s Wellbeing Week
Last week, we celebrated Wellbeing Week at The Royal Ballet School, an annual event to promote wellbeing and raise awareness about its importance.
‘Get out of your comfort zone and try something new’ was this year’s theme, highlighting the timely importance of exploring new things at the beginning of a new year.
Students and staff were challenged to expand their horizons with an event at White Lodge featuring some unusual foods like persimmon and physalis to challenge their tastes, as well as activities to benefit their wellbeing, including knitting and Dungeons and Dragons.
Throughout the School, postcards and posters were on display, inspiring students and staff to express gratitude towards someone who may have inspired them to try something new. They were then invited to write a message of thanks to share appreciation with the person who had made a difference in their lives.
Our top tips to enhance your wellbeing
School Counsellor Lucy Bailie and Psychologist & Mental Health Lead Christian Uitzinger led daily emails with tips to help staff and students expand their interests, encouraging them to persevere beyond the boundaries of their comfort zones.
Try Lucy and Christian’s four tips to improve your wellbeing:
Gain a fresh perspective on your daily routine by being mindful
On the walk between classes or the daily commute, take a moment to pay attention to the sensation of the journey. Notice the feeling of your feet on the ground, use fresh eyes to observe the details around you and listen closely to see how many sounds you can detect.
Use technology to learn something new
Download an app on your phone and learn something new. Try Duolingo to learn a foreign language; Bright BSL can teach you British Sign Language; or Encode to learn coding.
Create opportunities to experience joy
Hobbies create opportunities for us to experience joy, satisfaction, relaxation and disengagement from stress, which are particularly important for dancers. Find a small pocket of time to explore new interests such as yoga, calligraphy, propagating indoor plants, baking, bird watching or creative expressive arts.
Consider the concept of character strengths
Consider your character strengths, in particular those that could help you expand your horizons of interests and push you out of your comfort zone, such as curiosity, open-mindedness and creativity. It is always beneficial, and often interesting and insightful to take time to discover which of the 24 universal character strengths might be your signature strengths.
