Some people are just made to work in a restaurant or pub. They love the social side of talking to customers, thrive in the busy atmosphere and love being surrounded by food. Hospitality is a fast-paced industry and hospitality teams feed off the energy in a busy work environment, no pun intended. So it’s even more important to take the time to slow things down and check in with yourself. Here are some top wellbeing tips that will help you preserve or improve your mental and physical health:

Get moving

Exercise is said to be one of the five ways to wellbeing. Working in the hospitality industry means that you’ll be no stranger to being on your feet but perhaps you’re ready to find a type of exercise that you enjoy and build it into your daily routine. A walk first thing in the morning might be the perfect way to clear your head, or maybe you’re curious about the many YouTube classes that everyone has been raving about.

If you need that extra bit of motivation why not set yourself a challenge? Commit to stretching for 10 minutes every day, clocking 5,000 steps or try out a beginner’s 6-week fitness routine.

Avoid reading too much news

If you’ve found yourself scrolling away for hours on social media before, you’re not alone. But 2020 was a little different and gave rise to a new term - doomscrolling. You know that time when you endlessly scrolled through negative news? That was doomscrolling.

Yes, it’s important to stay up to date with what is happening in the world but you should limit the amount of time you spend scrolling through news sites and social media news channels and balance any negativity by finding websites and social media accounts that focus on good news stories. Take it a step further and create a group chat with your colleagues where you all share positive stories about what you’ve been up to while away from work.

Talk to someone

The stigma around mental health is slowly starting to slip away, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to open up and discuss your feelings. It is important though, and sharing how you are feeling with someone else can help you stay in good mental health or take some of the burden off you.

Whether you’re worried about your job, missing your work family or working through a mental health problem, being listened to is comforting. If you find it hard talk about your thoughts, plan it out in your head before, think about someone you trust and pick a place where you’ll feel comfortable.

Practise resilience

Resilience is one of the top transferrable skills you learn as a restaurant worker. Pre-Covid times, people working in hospitality were known for their unbreakable resilience. But like any other skill, it needs to be trained. Here are a few ways to do that:

• Be aware of your thoughts
• Reward your achievements
• Use relaxation techniques
• Build a support network

Using practices like these will help you stay focused in your time off from work and prepare you when you’re back serving your favourite customers.

Create a to-do list

We all struggle to get things done sometimes. Ironically, the more time we have on our hands, the more we tend to put things off. This is where a to-do list comes in handy. Now, being in a job where you’re used to having lots on your plate and little time to write it down might mean you’re not a keen list maker. But bear with us. To-do lists give you some structure when you’re not working, and when you are, they help you feel calmer about getting your errands done around your work hours. 

The 1-3-5 rule is a great way of making sure your daily list has five bite-sized to-dos, three slots for medium to-dos and one big task. Creating a to-do list, and slowly ticking things off can give you your daily dose of motivation and gives you something to feel proud about at the end of the day.

Find out about life at M&B

We know this has been a difficult time for restaurant workers which is why we think it’s so important to give your mental health the attention it deserves. These wellbeing tips will give some structure to your day while you’re not working and help you start some healthy habits.

While our team might not be together at work, we’re together in spirit and thanks to technology we’ve been keeping our culture alive. Find out more about life at M&B and don’t forget to check back to see when we start hiring again.