Mindful Return
Like a mole emerging blinking from its dark hole into the glaring light, when you return to work after a period of doing something else, it takes time to adjust. The New Year feels like that; after a few weeks of festive indulgence, when time holds no grip, and we slip-slide from heavily laden tables, to couch, to Netflix, to a half-pound box of chocolates and a drip-feed of alcohol. Then suddenly in the cold light of a January day we have to turn off the fairy lights, dust ourselves down and show up for work on time, focussed, goal orientated and hitting the ground running. Who wouldn’t feel disorientated. Add in the unpredictability of a global Pandemic, and two years in which our resilience has taken a pounding, we need a new approach to transitioning back to work.
Go gently
When you transition back to work after holidays or having a baby or being ill, go easy on yourself. Transitions coach Lori Mihalich-Levin helps women with her Mindful Return approach.
This week’s Brave New Girl podcast guest is Lori Mihalich-Levin, healthcare lawyer & CEO of Mindful Return, which focuses on transition back to work after parental leave, work-life integration & mindfulness for busy professionals. She’s the author of Back to Work After Baby & host of Parents at Work podcast.
Growing up in a family where domestic violence, alcohol & depression were the norm Lori found survival methods that took her well into a career as a healthcare lawyer. But on facing the truth about being raised around domestic violence, her focus shifted, as she began to think about starting a family of her own.
She became interested supporting women going back to work after having babies, and started looking at what helps people create an enriching work/life integration; developing tools to help them bring down their anxiety levels.
When she rolled out her business and support programme Mindful Return, she gave people something tangible to hold onto so that it would be possible to intentionally craft a calm home, even in the crazy swirls of life.
Her approach with the four life anchors of mindfulness, logistics, leadership and community is relevant to all of us, not just working parents.
Thank you so much Lori for successfully helping more than a thousand working parents navigate the back-to-work transition from parental leave so that especially working mums can advance their leadership role while raising a child. Thanks also for showing us that it is possible to be a mum and become a power leader in the workplace, whilst maintaining a mindful approach to work/life integration
You can find out more about Lori’s work at www.mindfulreturn.com
And follow her on Linkedin @LoriMihalichLevin
Women’s Impact Project
Series 5 of Brave New Girl podcast focuses on the impact those who identify as women or non-binary, are making in the world and the courage it takes to do that.