Source:
https://www.podbean.com/eau/pb-hequf-143e497
We can all say we’re OK. But after the past few years, are we? As co-host Karen Swim says, so many of us are walking around held together “with spit and duct tape.” In this episode we talk about how we can work on our mental health.
Read about the PR News poll.
Transcript
The Land of the Wounded: Mental Health and PRThat Solo Life Episode 205
Michelle Kane (00:02):
Thank you for joining an episode of That Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves, people like me, Michelle Kane, with VoiceMatters and my wonderful co-host, Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro. Hi Karen, how are you today?
Karen Swim (00:18):
I'm good, Michelle. Hello. Hello. How are you doing?
Michelle Kane (00:22):
I'm good. Yeah. You know, good
Karen Swim (00:26):
<Laugh> in all the weirdness of PR land
Michelle Kane (00:29):
And boy can it get weird. Yeah. That's why we thought today it would be wise to talk, just a little check in about mental health. Because even though we both just said we're good, seems like I, I love what you said earlier, Karen, before we started this episode of everyone's just kind of walking around keeping it together with spit and duct tape, <laugh>.
Karen Swim (00:53):
Yeah. It's so true and so unfortunate. And, you know, we started planning ahead for this topic when this article came out in PR news. And it was a poll asked, and the question posed was, do PR employees feel comfortable discussing mental health struggles? And 68% of people said no. Now granted, this was a small poll. However, you and I have no problems believing this. And I believe that this plays into the bigger narrative of traditionally work has been that place where people expect you to have nothing wrong with you. It's why pre pandemic people would have a cold and they would come to work, they'd get the flu, and as long as they could walk, they would come to work. You would say, “Are you okay?” Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Because that's the American way. Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Yeah.
Michelle Kane (01:55):
Yes, exactly.
Karen Swim (01:56):
I'm fine. You know, people would die and you would work. And <laugh>, we pr pros, we took that into our own businesses and we amplified it because suddenly we not only felt like it wasn't okay not to be okay, but that we had to be triple okay. Because it was our own business, so we could never take the time to tend to ourselves.
Michelle Kane (02:18):
Right. Right.
Karen Swim (02:20):
And I would love to say that the pandemic changed all of that at a corporate level, but it did not. What did change is our awareness that we're not okay. Everybody is dealing with something. And it's been, I think we all had this hope, which is why there was a part of the pandemic that was a happy time for everybody. We were breaking bread, we were listening to music, we were gathering together, and we were like, we're going to get through this because we truly believed that there would be an end and that there would be a better new normal. Right. What we experienced was continuing series of trauma. And in PR specifically, our industry has undergone massive waves of change. The media landscape is different, clients are different. And we have the economic challenges. It's just, it's a lot.
Michelle Kane (03:20):
It's a lot.
Karen Swim (03:21):
And it, it breaks my heart that we all have our stuff, we all have our days, we all have our moments where we may be experiencing anxiety, depression, and we feel like we have to present to the world and to our clients this front of I'm okay.
Michelle Kane (03:41):
Yeah.
Karen Swim (03:42):
And you know, there's a part of us that thinks nobody wants to hear that we, or if I say I'm not okay, then what? You know, I have to exude trust and confidence. And if I'm not okay, they won't trust me.
Michelle Kane (04:01):
Exactly. And, we're moreso that in our business where it's our job to keep everyone together, to keep it together, to present the perfect, not false, but to present the best front possible and really represent well. And a couple of things you touched on, now granted I've only ever lived in this country, but it just feels so American, the whole pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Never let 'em see you sweat. I mean, when you were talking about that in the workplace, my gosh. You would never show any glimmer. You’d be “Oh no, everything's fine. I've got it together,” because I am a fiercely, highly competent person who is going to give my best and my all to you, workplace. I'll just cry on the way home. It's fine. <Laugh>.
Karen Swim (04:51):
I mean, I have to tell you that growing up in California and moving to the Midwest, and even though my parents were Midwesterners, I didn't, they were different. <Laugh> Moving to the Midwest, I really have to protect myself from that Midwestern like grit. It's inspiring in some ways, but they don't do complaints in the Mi
