Hi team,

What if you woke up one day and discovered a lump on the side of your neck? Change. It’s Everywhere. Everyday. So please may I invite you to consider a couple of ideas this week on how to deal with this constantly changing world.

Firstly, in times of change, we typically need more information, NOT less and it’s useful to seek out sources of information that are credible and trustworthy.  If you have a lump on the side of your neck, you would seek out the expertise of a trusted medical professional, not take the word of your mate down the pub that everything will be ok, or worse, they catastrophise everything and unnecessarily add to your stress leaving you even more anxious and deflated.

We’ve started rolling out the COVID-19 vaccine which is great news, but for some it’s more change on top of a challenging year of the pandemic and the current increased demand across the HHS. Someone asked me this week ‘when will all this be over so things can go back to normal?’ and the answer is I don’t know when. I do know that eventually the current challenges will subside. And then there will be new ones.

Please can I encourage you to seek out and rely on quality and credible sources of information, not on the clickbait that dominates our social media and the web or the well intentioned people in our life that may simply add to our confusion, anxiety and stress.

Secondly, one of my favourite ways to maintain my sanity is that in the middle of the maddening crowd, when life is constantly throwing new challenges at me, I take just a moment to seek out, recognise, enjoy and be grateful for something that I can see, hear, feel and experience in that very moment. Despite the madness.

There’s a Zen story I learnt and absorbed over 37 years ago when I was first doing martial arts.

A man is being chased by a tiger, comes to a cliff, grabs a strong vine and descends to safety down the cliff face. He looks up to notice there’s now a mouse gnawing slowly away at the vine with the tiger above him. He looks down and there’s a tiger now waiting below him. He then notices right where he is hanging, a wild strawberry bush growing on a ledge on the face of the cliff with the biggest, fattest, juiciest strawberry. So, he eats the strawberry. And it was perfect. Delicious. The end.

The only choice is whether or not we will notice, eat and enjoy the strawberry. Because whether we enjoy or ignore it, we’re still getting eaten by that tiger! 😊

On Wednesday morning this week I started the day as I had the two previous. Up Very Early. Exercise. Emails. Presentation Preparation. Exhausted. Rushing to find the space at TPCH to meet at 6.45am and then finally the phone call, the plan… and then I noticed the sunshine and the smile on both our faces when we found each other walking towards each other. I noticed and remember the sunshine, the smile and the friendly greeting. That was my strawberry and it was perfect. Thanks George! 😊

So, when my life gets crazy, I remember every day to look for the strawberry. They are everywhere I’ve noticed around Metro North. You have to look hard some days. The tigers and that mouse are very distracting!

If you can’t see the good thing right now and you need a hand, reach out and talk to someone – a friend, a colleague, one of our staff psychologists, or our employee assistance program.

Kind regards,

Bruce Sullivan
Chief Wellbeing Officer
Metro North Hospital and Health Service