As I wrap up my Karachi visit today, over the past few days one of the things I noticed is the extent of emotional challenges people are having to deal with. I have always known it but this time it was far more obvious.
There are multiple layers of stress from economic, political, financial, job related, family related and the list goes on. Unfortunately, most of us do not even realize we are struggling or have any awareness.
Almost everyone I met shared something they are struggling with and obviously that has a direct impact on their well-being.
We spoke about this at our RAP meeting this week and Dr. Tamazur Karim shared the dimensions of well-being and horrendous statistics globally and even in Pakistan. Companies are barely talking about it or are interested to do anything here. Then we have this notion that we care about engagement and productivity. Your employee cannot be engaged or productive if they are struggling and yes everyone is.
We need to understand how to manage emotional wellness, much of which is actually preventable and easily manageable. Sometimes, it is sitting with a professional who will listen and provide guidance and help us navigate through our emotions. All we want sometimes, is for someone to listen to us and unfortunately in many cases even our families and friends don’t.
It is completely ok to be not ok and it is absolutely alright if you want to get advice, including myself. I have myself gotten help in the past which actually made a huge difference.
If you are feeling stressed, lonely and don’t know what to do, seek help and reach out to a counselor.
