Men's Health Week 2021

Pack your bag

Your trip to see the family has been booked for weeks. You leave tomorrow and your bag is packed. You’ve got clothes on the chair ready to wear and the car has been fuelled. The presents are wrapped or at least you’ve packed a bottle of wine or some chocolates. You’re leaving at 10am to avoid the traffic and lunch for the journey is made. The house is in a reasonable state and your neighbours know to take the bins out on Tuesday. Are the kids ready? Their packing list is a lot longer so let’s not consider that!

How much of that is done days, hours or minutes before you leave (if at all)? At what point do you feel ready to sleep the night before? It’ll always differ but for me the moment my bag is packed is a pivotal point in feeling ready for the trip and I’m prepared to wake up with some clarity the next day. Few of us have travelled or visited distant relatives for a long time, so maybe this has been a helpful reminder in how to leave our little lockdown kingdom and not just spend the day in a shirt, tie and shorts below the Zoom camera line. But the real point is to draw a parallel on how to feel ready for any activity. I’ve read that before finishing for the day, you should set up for the first 15 minutes of the next. Another one is to target achieving just 15 minutes of an activity; and be surprised that you complete the whole task in an hour of focus. Whatever the challenge, technique or the mantra, we all feel comfortable in our routine.

Routine is a powerful tool in achieving major targets or just getting through a long month. Whether the stress develops at work or at home, or possibly in both, it’s that routine that helps us de-stress, remain focussed and work through problems. And a routine doesn’t have to be practised frequently. Perhaps a stress trigger is best met with a quick, standard response: the plan has changed – review the calendar; the plasterer can’t work this weekend – get the kettle on; the car is making that knocking noise again – phone your mum; you need to cover for a workmate this week – write a list of jobs to prioritise. If an army marches on its stomach, the Submarine Service enjoys a routine menu. Where days roll into weeks and months, fish and chips on a Friday is not a routine to be played with and that simple routine can keep an entire crew focussed, to some degree. What frames your week? Or best of all, what is your Wednesday routine to highlight the Friday deadlines are approaching; you’re nearly there, keep going!

For most men, routine can get us through almost anything. For most men, we go no further in dealing with stress once the stressor has passed. Most men would probably benefit from understanding their mental health a little more. The connotations of that phrase can be negative but I prefer to think about it as human performance. For submariners, male or female, we keep going. We keep driving and working together and pushing for the next target. Already in an alien environment, we face incredible stress, we limit support from family members, we deny ourselves any personal space, our eyes barely focus beyond a few meters, our diet becomes long life in just a few weeks, the wind in our hair is just an air conditioning unit and whilst exercise is usually available, you have to be able to do it in a space smaller than a broom cupboard. Despite all that, we keep going. We can sometimes struggle, but we push on through. Home life becomes difficult, but we keep delivering at work. We can do, can do, can do. But in pushing ourselves so hard, some people can really suffer. We understand this to be a mental health issue. But what about the other circa 98%? Are we perfectly fine? Again, perhaps we should move the conversation towards human performance. We shouldn’t wait until our minds will take us no further, we should look to improve and train our minds to be better every day. If we engage with yoga, meditation, mindfulness, breathing techniques or self-reflection, we can improve our everyday attitude and performance. Whilst these are so readily dismissed by many, they are always available and are reliable. They don’t replace human interaction or exercise or sleep or good food, but unlike those, they can never be taken away. You just need time. The group activity might get cancelled; you might not want to run in the rain; the puncture repair on your bike might swallow up all of your training time; the internet connection might not support your gaming; you might burn dinner and the gym might shut because of CV19. A healthy body really will contribute to a healthy mind but, taking the time to understand your mind will help you deal with change; especially where it impacts your routine.

I had a look at Headfit and instantly put it into my email signature block. It immediately gave me some great suggestions and I wanted to share that. Earlier this year I did a couple of mindfulness sessions. I don’t do it formally anymore but it made far more sense than I had previously considered and it helps with perspective when my environment or my body limits me in completing my goals. This week is Men’s Mental Health week. Whilst anyone can get involved, it’s about raising awareness in a group of people that may feel both pressured and motivated by the can do attitude. This week the Can Do Challenge has been launched to understand and promote mental wellbeing.

The Royal Navy is doing more than ever to promote our own understanding of human performance. Could I have functioned better last year? Absolutely. Too often I was limited by my own ability to focus and manage from a distance. Stress drew me closer to the issue, which in turn made the stressor more intense. I never needed help, but I could’ve been helped. Today I feel less stressed but equally I understand and am able to manage it a lot better. You may be aware of your own triggers, but are you more prepared to deal with them today than you were yesterday? I know I feel better when I’ve done some exercise, eaten well, slept well and my bag is packed the night before. But because I understand my own stress a little better, I can remain a little more balanced and focussed when my routine is disturbed.

In 400 years of the Royal Navy, team work, endurance, resilience and determination have been forged into our DNA more than in most industries or organisations. The current drive to raise awareness and provide tools to manage our mental health is a huge step towards supporting a modern team whose social environment has changed more in the last 30 years than ever before in its history.

So ahead of tomorrow, have you packed your bag? And noting tomorrow is just another day at work, have you got milk ready for your tea break, have you got your booking at the gym, is your breakfast prepped and your keys by the door, is your routine set up to support you? And if not, do you have a tool to help you stay focussed, compartmentalise your stressors to accept them and deal with them in your own way? Take on this week’s challenge, click some of the links or see what your company or industry provides for stress management. Start the conversation at work and recognise that the poster on the notice board is only that. Engage, and improve yourself and your team.

Dan Seager

Lieutenant Commander Royal Navy – HMS Oardacious Human Performance Coordinator and Rower.