‘Maybe I should just stop and enjoy my life’: how the pandemic is making us rethink work

When the pandemic struck Australia in March 2020, academics began losing their jobs in droves. Within a year, 20% of people employed in tertiary education had lost their jobs. And every day for 18 months, union organiser Frank Gafa would take their calls.

The pandemic forced many Australians to reevaluate their relationship to work and the central role it plays in our lives and identities.

“I was day in, day out sitting in my house talking to people on the phone who were losing their jobs,” the Wailwan and Wiradjuri man says. “It was pretty intense and I didn’t really acknowledge it … that’s actually pretty traumatic to sit and listen to people’s trauma.”

For most of that time Melbourne, where Gafa lives, was in lockdown. Social and community activities were restricted – work was all that was left. And, like thousands of others…READ ON

This Simple Counting Technique Can Ease Your Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are evil twins, and most of us know their faces. For some, it’s a case of nerves before an important event, with accompanying physical symptoms like sweaty hands or a rapid heartbeat. For others, it’s a chronic sense that something is wrong. These mental states show up differently, but the universal truth of both is that we want them to stop — now.

Before we jump into the grounding technique, it’s important to understand the difference between stress and anxiety (so you can learn how to manage them). Stress and anxiety are defined differently, but they both lead to the same thing: discomfort! Stress is defined as a response to a specific trigger. Anxiety is described as a chronic condition that often doesn’t have an identifiable cause…READ ON