Vicky Blogs: COVID-19 (& beyond)

These pictures show a few of the things (physical therapy + my inversion chair) that I was doing pre-surgery as part of the conservative approach to dealing with herniated discs. Spoiler alert - they didn't work. In honor of today being the last work day of this mental health month of May, I wanted to share one final entry of my personal musings.  I wrote this last entry at the beginning of May.  It's clear to me as I read it again that my energy has shifted somewhat.  Recovery has faded to the background (although the pain is very much still present) as the pandemic and other emotional pressures have come to the forefront.  I hope that others who are job searching during this time or feeling uncertain about their futures might gain some insight through reading this.  Or at least understand that they aren't alone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Holy mol...

I wrote this entry in January of 2020, a few months after I had spinal surgery. I re-read my first entry before I began writing this update. Here I explain what surgery was like for me - an emotional roller coaster and one heck of a day: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I look back on this writing and still feel it so freshly today. I ended up having the surgery on November 15th, 2019. I don’t know what I expected coming out of surgery. I had heard stories of extreme cases on both sides. One person woke up from surgery and noticed all of their nerve pain was gone - they never needed to deal with chronic pain ever again. Another person didn’t see any relief from the surgery. It was an emotional decision to make to have the surgery and an emotional day when it actually happened. I spent 15 hours in the hospital. I arrived at the hospital with my parents at 5:30 am. I was one of the first s...

Today the weather was absolutely beautiful.  I have been awaiting a day like this for quite some time.  I had stumbled upon Horn Pond in Woburn a while back when I was biking and trying to avoid the busier bike paths.  I had resigned to revisit this pond to explore further and today was that day! As you can see by the map above, I took a right instead of a left and ended up actually biking way longer than I intended (12.66 miles) before I came to rest at Horn Pond.  I didn't mind the extra mileage too much, although my legs protested a bit on my way back home after.  I had brought a book to read this time and spent an hour sitting on a bench enjoying the sunlight.  It was absolutely lovely .  I have always been someone who gets energy from being outside and the warmth of the sun on my skin today made me smile. As I've titled this post, endorphins + sunshine tend to go together for me.  When the weather is so nice, all I want to do is...

Today I actually drove my car a few miles.  I went to pick up some pre-ordered bagels from a local spot (support local!!) that doesn't deliver but will let you order ahead online.  It was about a 10 minute drive away.  I took all the recommended precautions.  I donned my cloth mask and had hand sanitizer to apply as needed.  I left the employee at the bagel shop a big tip to thank them for continuing to supply the community with yummy morsels.  But what I noticed on my outing was that it felt weird  to leave my house. Lately, I've had the same question come from many different social spheres.  Whether it is friends, family or neighbors, everyone seems to be asking, 'How are you?'.  To be honest, I'm not sure what to answer half the time.  I could say that I'm forcing myself to have a regular sleep schedule.  I could say that I've implemented a personal routine with daily tasks.  I could say that I wish the weather would st...

It took me a while to find a photo where I wasn't smiling brightly or with people (or a dogs). I've not normally been someone who shares when I'm not feeling okay. And I am a very social creature by nature. Facing insecurites and uncertainties was always something that I did on my own, but I've grown through my struggle with chronic pain due to herniated discs in my spine. I am still in recovery from a surgery I had in November of 2019, as it can take up to two years for nerve pain to dissapate. I want to show others who might be struggling with negative mental health that they are not alone. To do that, I'm going to share a few exerpts of some writing I did when I didn't know what else to do. Written approximately 1.5 years ago, while trying the conservative approach to heal herniated discs: Gym rat. Noun. A person who loves to spend copious amounts of time at their gym, working out. A term that I used to use to self-describe myself. I’m someone who...

For those who may not know, May is Mental Health Month.  I personally believe that a strong connection to one's own emotions can make you a much more productive and happy individual.  If you asked me about that even just a few years ago, I think I would have had a different opinion.  I'd like to take the opportunity during this month of May to share some of my own personal journey that I've been going through.  I've mentioned briefly that I have spinal surgery in November of 2019.  Before that, I had been dealing with stifling chronic pain from two herniated discs for about two years - while I was a full-time student working towards a masters degree at Tufts and also working three part-time jobs. I've always been someone who is happier when I'm busy, and I tend to overload myself and just push through it.  Like the graphic above shows, I was part of the 52% of Americans that would just 'grin and bear it'. Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately for t...

The timing for this post is convenient, as it comes so close to my post about upper management standing up for the little guy.  I'll wrap up with what I've learned from my "Improving Your Business Through A Culture of Health" class from Harvard with this post, as I've already started my next online class!  Next up, a UPenn class on Gamification - stay tuned. I think something that many don't consider is that there is a difference between leadership and management.  Leadership is about establishing a direction and coping with change.  Management, on the other hand, is about predictability and results.  These two are often at odds with each other, or at least butting heads every so often.  Yet, these two also need  to cooperate if a business is to move forward.  It is unfortunate that firms have the tendency to be over-managed and under-led. Culture is defined as the shared assumptions, values, attitudes and patterns of behavior that you see ...

"What gets measured, gets managed" - Peter Drucker, Management Guru Oftentimes health gets clumped into a category of social impact, which unfortunately, leaves many impacts of health left out. For instance, with employee health programs much of what is measured focuses on the prevention of diseases or disabilities. While it is great that companies are beginning to focus on this aspect of health for their employees, the development of a positive social culture or psychological well-being of employees is rarely found. Many of the measurements associated with these two aspects of employee health are qualitative, and therefore not recognized as rigorous data. I've mentioned this in other work of mine.  These concepts that are not measured as easily often need a combination of quantitative measures, such as satisfaction surveys, coupled with qualitative measures, such an in-depth interviews. To get to the root of what truly increases or decreases the likelihood ...

Tim Bray, now a former principal engineer at Amazon Web Services (AWS), resigned last Friday (May 1st). He is now the most senior employee to speak out against the treatment of employees at Amazon. You can read his farewell to Amazon on his personal webpage here . I'll include some quotes in this post, but his writing is really worthwhile if you have the time. This all came to pass when colleagues of Bray's were fired following their criticism of Amazon's treatment of their warehouse employees. Two, now former, user experience designers by the names of Maren Costa and Emily Cunningham were fired. Amazon states that this occured because the employees had repeatedly violated internal policies, but Bray and others seem to see through this statement. Bray said in his blog that 'it was clear to any reasonable observer that they were turfed for whistleblowing'. He strongly states how 'the victims aren't abstract entities, but real people' and offer...

The fourth and final pillar of The Four Pillars Framework  is focused on environmental health.  This means the potential harm to human health from exposures to threats such as pollution in the built and natural environment.  This also includes keeping the air, water and land clean for the Earth's health.  This pillar is extremely important amidst the large systematic changes that we are facing today - deforestation, fishery depletion, loss of biodiversity, increased urbanization and climate change. Companies today are being asked (and are expected) to do more than just avoid being part of the problem.  They are being urged to be part of the solution.  There are many areas that companies can choose to focus on within environmental health.  For example, food access and farming, conservation of green spaces for leisure time and play and decreasing pollution so that the outdoors is a safe place for people to be are all potential options. Much ...

Image Source: The Washington Post On April 29th, essential workers indulged their creative sides as they created sidewalk chalk street art in Washington D.C.  The message, saying "Protect Amazon Workers", was intended for Jeff Bezos.  The street art was intentionally created directly in front of Bezos' D.C. home.  The piece also included silhouettes of masked workers, meant to represent the workforce that is being put at risk within Amazon's warehouses.  The entire endeavor took protestors about one hour to complete, and around two hours later, someone arrived to wash the mural away. This demonstration comes just two days before May Day, which many essential workers are using as an opportunity to take action.  Leaders of worker's rights groups have organized numerous walk-outs at online retailers, grocery stores, delivery services and even hospitals for this day.  Some of the companies mentioned in articles include Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, F...