Continuing with our monthly Wellbeing Webinar Series, Sequoia had two of its own Wellbeing Consultants: Shannon Arens, Wellbeing Consultant Manger, and Jackie Ishibashi, Global Wellbeing Consultant, join us in sharing their tips on “How to Build Your Own Stress Management Toolkit.” 

Creating your own “Toolkit” can help manage stress and can offer immediate relief in a high stress situation. It can help in allowing you to disassociate from negative thoughts and create a temporary distraction to the stress indicator you are experiencing. It is important to build a toolkit that reflects activities or items that support your own mental wellbeing.  

You can catch up by viewing the recording and checking out the presentation slides.  

A few key takeaways from the webinar: 

  • When building your own toolkit, it is important to make your activities readily accessible and in a convenient place so that it is easy to reach for your toolkit when stress strikes.  
  • Depression & anxiety are experiences of depletion and can quickly cause you to feel drained or exhausted.  
  • Shannon & Jackie shared that building a toolkit through your 5 senses is a great way to incorporate things that bring you peace and hold positive associations. 
    • Sight: Remember to utilize natural light and sunshine, as well as uplifting images or objects for their powerful depression fighting benefits. 
    • Smell: Smell and nostalgia are directly linked; tying us to our emotional memories. Explore mood improving aromatherapy scents.  
    • Touch: Movement & exercise helps improve mood and forms of touch can help in feeling less isolated and reduce depression, as well as increasing levels of oxytocin, your feel-good hormone.  
    • Taste: Taste can ignite positive feelings and associations. Focus on eating things with different nutrients, or items that can uplift your mood. 
    • Sound: Meaningful sounds can help in feeling more relaxed and calmer. Remember to practice mindful listening and to listen to things that bring up feelings of positivity. 
  • Knowing your resources is another important part of your toolkit. What are the resources available to you both professionally and personally? Also, make sure you have someone to turn to when stress strikes.  

Registration for our next monthly webinar on “Diverse Paths to Parenthood” is now open. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, June 21st, 2023, at 10 am PT/1 pm ET. Registration is available at this link. 

For more information on our Wellbeing offerings, visit https://www.sequoia.com/services/wellbeing/

Erika Kalin — Erika is a Recruiting Coordinator at Sequoia. She works within Talent Acquisition to help deliver a streamlined and white glove experience for all incoming candidates joining the Sequoia team. Erika is passionate about all things Wellbeing and believes in a wholistic approach to achieving this, knowing it is unique for every individual. Outside of work, Erika enjoys being active with her three dogs, all things summer and sunshine related, cooking and, of course, eating.