Phew! Another big year… hey? Here is an interesting consideration: have you found that you’ve slipped back into the frenzy and busyness of pre-COVID life, or have you made a determined effort to reframe your priorities and create some space in your world?
The question of prioritisation is a big one, and there are no right or wrong answers here; but the end of the year is always a great opportunity to examine what has been, what is, and what could be. A rapidly approaching Christmas season also raises another thought: what will capture your attention this ‘silly season’?
Your upcoming holiday
Who your Secret Santa will be at the office
Whether you’ll be on the naughty or nice list
Do you really need more stuff
Is it better to give the gift of time, experiences…
How you’ll fit the whole family, plus your two dogs, in the car for the annual sojourn to family togetherness interstate?
Again, more big questions with no right or wrong answers (other than fitting the family and dogs in the car… that is a win or fail scenario only), but worth taking a moment to ponder.
Over here at GRS, we are looking forward to a time of reflection, rest and celebration, and our extra GRS Play Days! However, this Christmas season our attention also falls to giving. Looking up and out to see where there may be needs that we can meet beyond our own, during what can be an incredibly difficult time for those not only in our immediate vicinity, but around the world.
One of my all-time favourite quotes is “wine makes the heart merry; but money answers a multitude of problems”. This is a great segue into taking a moment to point you in the direction of some of the amazing charities that we have partnered with this year, who are making a huge difference to those less fortunate, those in crisis and those without hope.
GRS is a Profit for Purpose, People for People, People for Planet, Problem Solving Company. This means that at our heart, there is a fierce desire to lift people up, care for our community and help solve the insurmountable. We invite you to embrace this season of giving with GRS and join with us in sharing peace and goodwill to all.
Our best wishes for a joy filled and safe Christmas.
So... it's that time of year again. Halloween is a wrap and Christmas decorations adorn the malls.
And there, squished in between the end-of-year deadlines, the barrage of Chrissie party invites and holiday planning, is Movember. The titillating sight of your generally average-looking male colleagues madly cultivating facial hairs.
Somehow, despite the seasonal madness, this entertaining assertion of maleness registers.
Ah yes… that's right. Men matter too.
Last year when I was considering getting involved in Movember, I questioned my motivation. After all, as a woman, I believe women are still battling discrimination and inequality. Why should I do anything to help men?
What I realised is that men do matter to women, so maybe it’s a 'help them to help ourselves' situation.
As a society, don't we need to be inclusive to improve conditions for all of us? Can we expect to be prosperous and content if we can’t value the health and well-being of all members of society? Is the inequality of healthcare received by men compared to women acceptable?
And on a personal level, wouldn’t it break my heart if something happened to my father, husband, son or bro-friend that should have been preventable?
I am not sure of all the answers, but I do know that year-round, Greenroom Strategic vigorously support charities targeted towards helping disadvantaged women and children in impoverished nations. Greenroom Strategic actively support the mental health and well-being of all permanent employees by providing us playtime on top of annual leave.
And it only seems fair that Greenroom Strategic get involved in this flagship event raising money for men’s health and well-being. But does it make a difference?
I have a friend currently going through breast cancer. She remarked to me that she never really paid much attention to all the breast cancer stuff. Raising money for research and awareness and whatnot. But by golly, she is now grateful it exists, because the treatments have improved out of sight and made her journey that much more likely to be successful and less painful. And the motivator for this gratitude? Well, she is keen to stick around for her three sons, because her men matter!!
So, I encourage all to get a little bit or a lot involved in Movember. Donations, no matter how small, have a compounding effect and WILL make a difference to health care options available to men over time. PLUS, the GRS crew would love to welcome you to their playful event at Stromlo in support of Movember. We hope the opportunity to unwind, play and connect will make a personal difference to you.
And in the meantime… may the Mo be with you. Mos, real or fake, follically challenged or blessed, au naturale or man-scaped, is truly a source of endless entertainment.
How often do you play, or have you forgotten how? Have you trained your body and mind to accept a chemical or electronic substitution? You may find it easy to answer these questions. Alternatively, the topic may perplex, frustrate or confuse you.
At Greenroom Strategic we value the importance of play. Real play. Play is that innate human ability to derive joy from physical interaction with our planet and others. Play involves an effort-for-reward equation, where pain is often encountered, but never the objective. Play unlocks something in our brains and bodies that few other activities can rival. It transports you to an alternative reality where competition and toil for station are no longer drivers. Instead, something else takes over, joy.
Joy is the unrivalled human ability to take pleasure in the moment despite circumstances to the contrary. This joy is best shared with others. The adventure, the experience, the feeling of stoke, is amplified when friends are present. Relationships grow deeper when play is at the centre.
Play is not without challenges, generally they are in partnership. The challenge of navigating obstacles enhances the transaction, and the reward requires little investment other than time. And there lies the problem.
A small sacrifice of time can seem impossible in a digital world that seeks to occupy every second of your waking hours. Compounded by susceptibility to over-commitment, play is often the first thing to disappear from our to-do list.
For me, I set time in the schedule to play. I ride mountain bikes on Wednesday evenings, I play music on Thursdays and Sundays, and I try to surf/skate or bike every Saturday. This frequency seems to keep the stoke levels above minimum acceptable. However, how can we encourage others to prioritise play?
Quite simply we need to create time. However, our research and development department, GRS Create., has not yet solved all space-time continuum issues. Therefore, if we cannot create time just yet, we must do something else to keep Minimum Acceptable Stoke or MAS tm .
From 2022 onwards we will give all Greenroom Strategic permanent employees extra play time every year. This time is for you to play more, it is on top of annual leave, and it most definitely will not cost you extra.
