Wellbeing

As a tribute to Mental Health week, Damien Barr, a British columnist and author, penned a poem as a lifeline of understanding for those who are grappling with the human and economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. His opening three lines vividly describe both the common and universal experience as well as the inequities that are being felt by people across the world.

I heard that we are in the same boat. But it's not that. We are in the same storm, but not in the same boat (Barr, April 21, 2020)

We are indeed all in the same storm. Everyone has a story to tell relating to the COVID-19 tidal wave that has swept across almost every country. There are stories of loss – very personal and tragic stories about the loss of life, economic loss, loss of dreams and loss of opportunities. But what Barr also points out is that for some, the cost of riding out the storm is a lot higher than for others. The illustration made by Barbara Kelley, a graduate of Pratt Institute in New York, to depict Barr’s poem shows a flotilla from super-liners to small wooden boats all navigating the same storm. I can imagine that there would be some boats with a large crew, led by an experienced captain, smaller boats with a small crew and some boats with a single sailor. I know which boat I would rather be on, but we don’t always get to choose.

Indeed, there are already obvious winners and losers as we continue to ride out the COVID-19 storm and once the storm has passed, the ‘clean-up’ will almost certainly reveal more casualties. At this point we know that if you bred puppies or chickens or sold home office furniture or office supplies, sporting equipment including home gym equipment, bicycles or surfboards, ran online gaming or streaming services or your business involved logistics or delivering any or all of the above, your business boomed. However, if your worked in travel, tourism or hospitality, gas or oil, live-entertainment or cinemas or were unable to quickly adapt your business model to an online environment, your business has suffered or even shut down. As we see unemployment reach new highs, the majority of those at the front of the unemployment queues are young people who form a large percentage of our casualised workforce in retail, tourism, hospitality, and the arts, recreation and entertainment sectors. COVID-19 has also added fuel to the fire of the gender equity debate with a disproportionate percentage of those affected being female. The global impact of COVID-19 on women’s wellbeing has been highlighted in a new United Nation’s Women report co-authored by Griffith University’s Professor Sara Davies (see, news report). So, where do individuals, teams, or leaders focus their energies moving forward?

My grandmother used to say that you don’t really care about someone who has just lost a limb, if you have just slammed your thumb in the door. That is, your personal experience and feelings are heightened and usually your first concern. As brutal as her pragmatic approach was, it tends to hold true and is confirmed when we see the hysteria of people fighting in shopping centers over toilet paper or demanding their own personal freedoms around imposed quarantines or the wearing of masks. The uncertainty of the pandemic has divided even some of the usually most unified in a time of crisis: There is a sense of, “every person for themselves” as we try and take control of our own personal situation.

Even before we were in the grips of COVID-19, ‘wellbeing’ was increasingly becoming something to measure in and across countries. The World Happiness Report, published annually by the United Nations since 2012, ranks countries across the world by using nationally representative samples with respondents asked to rate their own current lives. For the first time in 2020, the report also ranked countries by their subjective wellbeing. As a researcher who is very interested in wellbeing, the report is a curiosity – I am keen to know who in the world are the happiest and what they value that supports their subjective wellbeing or sense of happiness and life satisfaction. I always wonder about Finland. That country always seems to be at or near the top of the list. I have never been to Finland but compared to where I live in Australia, I know that the winter climate can be very unforgiving, and I personally think snow is overrated!

As a term, wellbeing means different things within different disciplines and encapsulates the complex and interrelated components of a person’s overall health and wellbeing. Depending on the context, referring to someone’s wellbeing can refer to some or all of our physical, mental, psychological, social, emotional and spiritual states. However, subjective wellbeing relates to an individual’s level of satisfaction with their life, despite circumstances that may be difficult for others to endure. That is, the criteria for each person’s subjective wellbeing and what constitutes a ‘satisfying life’ can be anything from slightly to very different. Interestingly, the criteria used by World Happiness Report includes six key factors, four of which measure different aspects of a person’s social environment. The four social environmental factors closely align with Glasser’s Choice Theory (1998) who argued that as well as survival (food, shelter, and safety), individuals have four basic psychological needs which include love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun and that individuals make choices to meet these four basic needs to build a fulfilling life.

If we unpack each of these four basic needs, we can see how, for many of us, riding the storm of the pandemic has disrupted one or more of these basic needs.

Love and Belonging

Love and belonging refers to our relationships and social connections, the ability to give and receive affection (this can be from a pet – thus the increase in pet ownership during COVID!), and the need to feel part of a group whether that be a family group or other common group. Social isolation, social distancing, physical distancing or whatever other terms you choose to use, imposed by both mandated restrictions or self-imposed due to our concerns about our personal health and safety, challenge our sense of belonging and ability to sustain relationships in ways that we are used to. Many have felt the despair of not being able to freely interact with loved ones, particularly elderly relatives.

Power

Power is linked to our sense of self-worth or sense of purpose, our confidence and competence. It is about being acknowledged and recognised for skills we have and the contribution that we can make. Ask an airline pilot who has 20 years flying experience and a strong career path who now finds themselves unemployed and facing an uncertain future career how empowered they feel. COVID-19 has not discriminated. It has changed career trajectories, aspirations, hopes, and dreams almost overnight.

Freedom

Freedom refers to our need for independence and autonomy and is about not only our ability to make choices but to have options. It is about having control over the direction our lives are heading. I have questioned the motives of people who have marched and protested against wearing masks, being in lockdown or other restrictions. Whether we agree with them or not, we all take our personal freedoms seriously and want to protect our ability to take control of our own lives. For many of us, we have accepted that, for the time being, we need to sacrifice our liberties for our safety.

Fun

The need for fun is linked to our need for enjoyment and hope and to find pleasure and to play. Glasser linked fun to learning in that as we play, we learn important life skills and grow and develop. We also, for the most part, find fun or joy in learning. Meeting these needs becomes the motivation for everything that we do. Where one or more of these needs are not able to be met, our sense of wellbeing declines. Our need for fun, laughter, and enjoyment has brought out the creativity and generosity of many. People have dressed up to take out the rubbish bin, created TikTok reels, drawn on footpaths, put a stuffed toy in their front window, played Zoom Trivia, and enjoyed Zoom concerts. For sports lovers, being able to watch many sports play out their seasons and finals has provided a sense of fun and enjoyment as well as ‘normality’ in our day-to-day lives.

As we interact with others, words of encouragement to be resilient and ride the storm, stay positive, adapt to whatever the new ‘normal’ will look like, and to make sure you focus on your own wellbeing abound. Extolling platitudes such as “it will be fine”, “just make the best of the situation”, or “stay positive”,  to others who seem to be struggling can at best be dismissed as just words from a well-meaning friend or, at worst, can fuel the fire of what can best be described as toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is the assumption that regardless of how difficult the situation or how deep the emotional pain, a positive mindset or a happy, optimistic attitude will triumph and see you through to the other side relatively unscathed. I am not saying that being positive is all bad – it is not a dichotomy – but there needs to be a balance where we acknowledge the realities of the situation, show empathy and reach out in ways that support and help them to meet their basic psychological needs.

So, we are adrift in a storm indeed, with no clear skies yet on the horizon. But, if as Glasser argues, having all our basic psychological needs met builds optimism, perhaps we can weather this one. When people are optimistic, they are more likely to be invested in and put effort into whatever they are doing. If being optimistic promotes commitment and action, it could be argued, that focusing on people’s basic psychological needs within whatever sphere of influence we have, be it our own, a team’s, or as a leader within an organisation makes sense. Remember, we are not in the same boat. Everyone’s experience and needs are very different. We are all trying to navigate the same storm so, “let everyone navigate their route with respect, empathy and responsibility” (Barr, 2020).

References

Barr, D. (2020, April 21). We are not all in the same boat. [Poem]. Retrieved from Twitter @Damian_Barr.

Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory. New York: Harper Collins.

Helliwell, J. F., Huang, H., Wang, S., & Norton, M. (2020). Social environments for world happiness. World Happiness Report 2020.

Dr Katherine Main is a Senior Lecturer and Program Leader in the School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University. She has been involved in a wide range of research around middle school/junior secondary reform and the need for targeted professional development; teacher efficacy including the collective efficacy of teacher teams. She is a strong advocate for young adolescents and her current research is focused on student and teacher wellbeing.