Traditional gender norms suggest that men are naturally strong and assertive, while women are the nurturers and care givers. Despite significant progress in the field of gender equality, traditional gender roles in the workplace, and elsewhere in life, can be difficult to shake.
Women are often told to “man-up” to become more successful. While it’s true that anyone who wants to be successful must be robust, tenacious and tough, women don’t need to buy into the idea that they need to mimic men to achieve their own success.
Start your day by scrolling through your Newsfeed and you’ll probably have at least 10 reasons to roll over and hide under the covers. There’s lots of suffering and struggle in the world, not to mention your personal challenges. Although you can reduce your exposure to news of suffering (actually don’t start your day with your newsfeed), suffering is still inevitable.
It’s safe to say we’ve all been there, you are tired, so you skip making dinner and eat an unhealthy snack instead. You have a night out with friends and skip the gym the next morning. When work piles up, the first thing that suffers is sleep. The problem is, the more often this happens, the more your health is affected.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T! Yes, it’s a well-known song and a word often used when it comes to teaching children how to interact with adults, but there is more to it than just being a catchy tune. Respect is effectively the glue that holds relationships together. It can be defined as “esteem for, or a sense of the worth, or excellence of a person, a personal quality, or ability”.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ A cliché? Yes, but there may just be a dot of truth to it. Everyone knows that play is good for kids. It promotes physical and mental development and provides an opportunity for healthy social interaction. But as kids get older, time for free play gets less, until adulthood, when it just about disappears altogether.
Life keeps throwing us challenges. As we saw with Covid-19, in this globally connected world we are all touched by whatever is happening, no matter how ‘far away’. Resilience is a key quality of those who are best able to respond.
Let’s be clear – there is no quick fix to immediately ‘boost’ your immunity – no ‘wonder supplement’ or ‘power food’ will suddenly strengthen your immune system. However, living a healthy lifestyle does go a long way to keep your immune system strong. This has been found in a recent study showing that exercise may strengthen the antibody response to vaccination – both the COVID-19 vaccines and the annual flu vaccines.
Here in South Africa, there seems to be two active responses on social media to the shock of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One is a sense of outrage and sadness at the disruption and tragic loss of life. The other seems to be an almost flippant expression of gratitude for being far away ‘down south’ from the conflict zone.
What can those two illustrious South Africans, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu and ex-President Nelson Mandela teach us about living with cancer? In 1997 a concerned world heard that the man fondly known as ‘the Arch’, aged 65, had surgery for prostate cancer. A few years later in 2001, we were again shocked to hear that Madiba, aged 83, had also been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
One thing we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic experience is that we are not happy when we are separated from others – loved ones, colleagues and even people we do not know. We like to go to restaurants, coffee shops and just hang around people. Not only do we like it, but the pandemic has also highlighted how we need connection for our mental and emotional wellbeing. Sometimes it seems that it is only when things are taken away, that we learn to appreciate their value and importance.
