Today I’m interviewing Ratna Juita, a well-being strategist and a TEDx speaker, facilitator, and trainer based in Singapore to talk about mental health and how to avoid burnout. Scrambling to figure out what to do in Singapore, I found Ratna’s content on LinkedIn really informative so I reached out and she agreed to be on the podcast.
Ratna is a joy to talk to and is very organized in her approach to mental health. In this episode, you’ll hear a few exercises that might help you figure out how to control burnout or overworking. Ratna’s methods have been presented to a lot of corporate teams so they are legit. Ratna also talks about her own struggles. For example, how she overcame her fear of public speaking after a devastating failure
I think mental health is extremely important in this day and age and it’s only recently that we are more open about it. Just like physical exercise and rest, our brains must go through the same thing. We talk a lot about big problems on My Food Job Rocks, so having Ratna on is a nice and well-deserved mental break from the exponential crisis we go through daily. Coincidentally, we’re launching this episode after Mental Health Day.
We do this in a rental office in Singapore.
What’s up with Adam
Still in Japan but now instead of Tokyo, I’m in Kyoto and Osaka. The central part of Japan houses a ton of scenic views. You can check them out on my Instagram @myfoodjobrocks where I post 10 pictures daily. Anyways, weather? Not the best honestly. Been raining a lot but you make the most of it.
If you listen to this podcast, there’s a high chance you’re an overachiever because who in the right mind would spend their free time listening to some guy talk about the food industry for an hour? But I’m grateful that you’re listening to me. Honest.
My other overachiever friend, Kai Wang, and we do a weekly podcast called Crisis Meets Opportunity and often discuss career advice and things like working hard to get ahead.
We’re both workaholics. For example, we only take a vacation when we’re in between jobs (though Kai just took a 15-day trip to Iceland and is going off the grid). And yea, am I on vacation? Well, why am I doing this podcast?
We generally talk about how quiet quitting, or basically checking out while working, is a bad thing for society but we also discuss kind of how mentally hard it is to work hard.
Ok, so basically what I’m saying? Mental health is important and, in my career, I’ve experienced burnout a lot. The issue with burnout is that it’s hard to talk about. Especially when you surround yourself with overachievers, you just get this mindset that you’re mentally weak. I know this isn’t true, but that’s kind of the trap.
Burnout and overworking can not only be devastating to your mental health but it leads to a lot of bad habits such as overeating, overdrinking, a lack of sleep, all things I usually do with coping when I have a bad time. When I feel in a state of impending burnout, I just become a different person.
Ratna gives a ton of tactical strategies to manage your mental health including giving yourself a break, understanding yourself, and congratulating yourself.
Mental Health Break Advice with Ratna Juita
Well-being – managing stress, improving productivity, living a more happier and fulfilling life
Burn Out- disengagement in work
B- Break – Daily, mindful breaks
R- Routine – Have a routine every day. Dedicated time for deep work and meeting
E- Energy – Understand our own energy cycle
A- Active – Schedule some physical activity
K- Kudos – Thank yourself!
A – Awarenss
B – Balance
C – Curiousity and Compassion
5 things people can do better for mental health
Autonomy
Building Relationships
Culture
Diversity and Inclusion
Establishing Check-Ins
Links
Wemhoff Breathwork
Mind Valley Sleep Mastery Course
Chronotype
HIIT
Toastmasters
Singapore Botanical Garden
Garden by the Bay
East Coast Beach
Singapore Zoo
Sentosa
Flower Dome
Cloud Forest
Ratna Juita Linkedin
@jratna – instagram
End of the Show
So Ratna gave some amazing tips on mental health and burnout. One of the tips that resonated for me was the end of the Break acronym, Kudos!
I really like this one because I‘ve had a hard time doing this a few years ago and once I started to congratulate myself, I became a lot more confident in myself.
Thanking yourself, and the accomplishments you’ve achieved in life is hard because, for some reason, we spend a lot of our time comparing our success with other people, while also believing that we’re not an expert in anything.
Sometimes when we’re too busy thinking of the next step in our lives, it’s hard to pay attention to the journey already taken.
Whether that’s getting a degree, moving states, changing jobs, or taking a big risk, these are all things that should be celebrated because when you think about it, that was a tough time and not many people do it. You’d be surprised just how many people haven’t done what you’ve done.
I think one of the biggest assurances I’ve gotten on this trip is taking the time to be proud of myself. I don’t think you need to quit your job and travel for months to do so, but in general, we’re in a period of time where you might be pretty stressed. People are losing their job, the world seems to be in constant conflict, and you just might not be in a good place. Take some time to slow down, take a look at some of the tactics in this episode and give yourself a pat on the back.