Five Things You Can Do for Your Mental Health

Scott Craig, CEC, CCA, WCMC, Director of Culinary Operations, Myers Park CC shares five strategies to help boost your mood, build resilience, and strengthen your mental health.

The life of a chef is physically and creatively demanding. It’s marked by long days, intense stress and high expectations.

“It’s so important to take care of yourself—and each other,” says Scott Craig, CEC, CCA, WCMC, Director of Culinary Operations at Myers Park Country Club, Charlotte, N.C.

In addition to sharing his culinary skills and knowledge, Craig is actively focused on helping other chefs find a better balance between work and life. “We can’t lead if we are broken,” he says.

Here are Craig’s top five strategies to help boost your mood, build resilience, and strengthen your mental health.

1. Make time for yourself. You’ll never “find” time. You have to make it. Set aside a block of time during the week that is dedicated exclusively to physical exercise, a hobby, or special interests outside of work.
2. Make your office a sanctuary. Add a plant or desktop water feature, or repaint the room. Do whatever needs to be done to make your office feel like a place where you can take a moment to re-center yourself.
3. Communicate. Rather than bottling emotions or concerns, express them to the individuals who need to hear them.
4. Eat the elephant one bite at a time. Instead of letting large, intimidating tasks sit until it’s too late, break them up into smaller, more manageable pieces, and build on small achievements until the goal is reached.
5. Write down your short-, medium- and long-range goals, and stick to them. When the job gets tough, it’s good to have something that reminds you of the progress you’re making.