Sadly, the year 2020 has proven to be a difficult year for pretty much everyone! Now more than ever, an appreciation can go much further, it really can make your day, a week or even a month! Never before in my lifetime have small thoughts towards anyone's efforts or even a little appreciation gift been such an important morale booster!
I've decided to write a short article about this particular subject because it has shown to be very much correct, at least in my case.
I WANT TO BE APPRECIATED AS SO DO YOU! BUT WHAT IF IT'S THE OPPOSITE OF THAT AND YOU ARE BEING PUSHED ASIDE...
Everyone has a need to be appreciated, yet most of us have at some point in our live (at work or out of it, at home, friends...) felt underappreciated! But for today I'll concentrate on work related appreciation and sadly unappreciation. Feeling undervalued leads to a loss for yourself because you without a doubt become unproductive, have and increased negativity, loss of motivation or morale. Now, all that will surely lead to a loss for the organization itself (big or small).
We also know that feeling unappreciated leads to increased stress and anxiety. Not feeling valued in the workplace has negative impact on our health overall, and if you fall into the category of feeling unappreciated, you need to take initiative and look for ways to turn things around. Either things will turn around with or without your initiative, or you may have to make a decision and consider whether the benefits of your job outweigh the harm you will do to yourself if you continue working there.
Just remember, there are many options for you to try out before giving up in any shape or form, such as:
- check out your perceptions, because it's easy that at the end you might only be missed out in their unawareness of your good work.
- it won't hurt having a conversation with your boss and/or colleagues as at the end it is a team that drives everything forward, and there is no 'i' in team!
- look for what went well as to opposed what didn't, maybe make a list which will increase your ability to notice more of a positive side to it all.
- and if everything else fails, well, then it's time you move on as no work benefits can be greater then you feeling as down as 100km below earth's surface!
MY WORKPLACE IS CURRENTLY A BIG 'APPRECIATION PLACE', AND HAS ALWAYS MADE ME FEEL LIKE WE'RE FAMILY
I think I've always felt appreciated at my workplace in some way. And if I wasn’t, well, maybe I was too busy and not bothered to ever notice! I've worked for two private healthcare companies since arriving to UK well over a decade ago. My 1st workplace had its hiccups but nothing ever brought me down or has put a dent in the way I look back at it when I do take my time reminiscing about them days. After just over 10 years working there, several of us have decided to split from the company. We did that not because we disliked working there but because a big part of the place was being sold. Despite being offered to continue working for them in a different unit/building, we all refused collectively. To work in brain injury department for years only to be thrown in less productive and underqualified environment?! No thank you! We decided to venture on our own, signed contracts with another private company whilst doing work in the same manner and be as productive as we can be following our previous path!
As you can see, in my (our) case it wasn't the problem being unappreciated, but the fact we will not be able to continue developing our set of skills, and thus that would end up destroying our morale and possibly us feeling unimportant!
At the moment, there's a superb atmosphere at my workplace, which to be honest, has been there since before the big move! What we've all agreed on since the day one is to communicate openly with each other. We all know what and how anyone reacts at work as well as outside of workplace. We know who's the angry one, or who's the stubborn one, and so on (all of them is me), so we know that by pretending to talk in a form of a small talk, including repetition of words 'all is okay', nothing will ever be just that!
We get recognised in many ways, with one of them being simple yet extremely effective; receiving flower and an appreciation card! Throughout this pandemic (which is not over yet), I've received a few reminders that's I'm important to them, and that is more than enough for me!
You'll probably wonder, what about the company bosses and do they know us at all?? Funny enough, after almost 3 years they very much do! Here's a good example: So, as you can see we get send flowers from time to time and I adore all types of flower apart from Lillie’s, certain species! Lillie’s (not all) make me unwell as they're too strong for me and I'll suffer with breathing. So, they've somehow sent me a bouquet of Lillie’s as a little thank you, completely forgetting I don't cope well. But to everyone's surprise, I received a message on the same day flowers were being delivered, and it said the following: "I've sent you flowers as a thank you from all of us, and have sadly just remembered that you're allergic to Lillie’s, so I've sent you different flowers instead. Feel free to re-gift them!", there was also a smiley face at the end of that message.
I've already presented to you one of many similar looking cards which I've recieved with all the flowers in the past few months. And yes, I decided to take some flower photos as not long before they'll drop over the cliff in their beauty as it's been 3 weeks since receiving them.
All of the photos have been taken with the same camera, lens and its setting, which is shown below.
LAST FEW THOUGHTS...
As you can see, not everything can be doom and gloom, and sometimes workplace can be a place you like going to! Anything, and I mean anything can influence our wellbeing in general as well as our mental health! Of course, there will always be exceptions and an example of a bad workplace environment! If that happens to you, please get to the point of finding a solution to it, whether that be getting things in order or just move away from its toxicity! I'm well aware that might not always be easy and anxiety will play its part throughout the time of finding the solution! There's no denial that you have appropriate skills to do something else for a living, and above all, don't let anything get you on their toxic level of intimidation or mockery! You can do it, I know you can!
All of the photos are mine as are all of the words included in this article.
Thanks for stopping by and take care.