Page 38 - Retail Pharmacy Assistants - November 2020

36 EXCLUSIVE FEATURE FROM PAGE 35 Ms Wilson believes that while we’ve become disconnected from nature and our surroundings, we’ve also “become disconnected from each other” – and if Covid-19 has taught us nothing else, it has taught us that it’s time to reconnect. “We’ve become a fragmented society,” she said. “We’re not used to cooperating, we’re not used to helping ... so, some of the things that I share in the book are techniques for radical kindness. “In Persia ... in the Persian language they have this beautiful phrase: instead of saying, ‘How are you?’ – and \\\\\\\[to that\\\\\\\] most people just say, ‘Oh yeah, fine’ or ‘I’m busy’ – they instead \\\\\\\[ask\\\\\\\], ‘How is your heart in this breath?’, which is just the most beautiful way of getting both yourself and the person you’re asking to come to a really still, connected place. “And you’re kind of forced to answer in a really meaningful way.” According to Ms Wilson, “essentially, we need to reconnect with what matters”, which is something pharmacy assistants do within their day-to-day work and dealings with customers. “Just as an example, in Holland they have supermarkets that have loneliness aisles,” she said. “So, people who’d like to have a chat can go and put their shopping through the loneliness checkouts ... and have a chat. “Taking the opportunity to connect meaningfully will just have such a great carry-on effect for both the retail assistant, but also the customer. We’re all craving a pause, and to hear that someone is caring about us.” As someone with a history of bipolar (“I’ve got bipolar,” she said), Ms Wilson points out that when a customer is anxious – and anxiety is a mental health issue becoming increasingly prevalent throughout the Covid-19 pandemic – they will “have a hard time making decisions”. So, where a pharmacy assistant can help is genuinely listening to the customer’s need and helping them make their decision. “And it can be the \\\\\\\[simplest\\\\\\\] decision, like which flavour of toothpaste to buy,” she said. “It \\\\\\\[might sound\\\\\\\] ridiculous, but the anxious part of the brain controls our decision making, so if you’re anxious, it’s very hard to make decisions. “One of the things that you can do if you’re ... working with customers is ... if they’re trying to make a decision between one brand or another brand, sometimes what you can do is just make a decision for them. “So, you listen and go, ‘What are your options?’ or ‘You need this, this or this ... sounds like option A is the one you need’.” Ms Wilson adds that helping people make the decision will, as “the science shows”, “alleviate their anxiety and then they’re able to make other decisions more easily because you’ve helped them with this decision-making blockage, which is linked to anxiety”. Further addressing dealing with customers, she says that while it may be “a bit weird to say, ‘how is your heart in this breath’ in the middle of a pharmacy”, assistants can ask someone genuinely how they are feeling. “There’s a way of asking that makes the person feel \\\\\\\[like you\\\\\\\] genuinely want to know,” she said. While genuinely looking after customers is important, pharmacy assistants also need to be mindful that they implement some of these strategies in their own lives as well. One of the suggestions from Ms Wilson is to take up walking. We all know exercise is not only beneficial for physical health but mental wellbeing, too. “I don’t own a car, so I walk everywhere,” she said. “I walk to meetings, to appointments ... when I worked in an office, I walked \\\\\\\[there\\\\\\\]. Try to factor in a 20-minute walk \\\\\\\[every day\\\\\\\]. “Park your car 20 minutes further away. Get off the bus or the train 20 minutes earlier. And if you live within an hour of work, try to walk, say, twice a week. “Eventually, you’ll start loving the process of listening to podcasts or beautiful music ... and it \\\\\\\[will\\\\\\\] become part of your wellness routine ... and there’s just a multitude of benefits that play out at the physical and the mental health level.” While the pandemic has thrown a multitude of doubts about the future our way, and perhaps cast shadows on long-term career goals and planned successes, Ms Wilson says for those who are passionate and stick to their “value system”, opportunities and success will come without you even having to try. “For me, success has always been about being able to work according to my value system,” she said. “And I don’t think you’ve got to be out there or an influencer or politician to have some influence on values. You can do that within whatever realm you’re in. “There’s a lovely phrase that I quote from Pema Chodron, who is an American Buddhist nun. I quote her in my latest book. And she says, ‘start where you are’. “Now, a lot of people kind of feel that you’ve got to go off and do these heroic things ... really, all of us just need to start where we are and make an impact there,” Ms Wilson said. “And then what happens is that, when you do something really positive and value based, abundance just comes towards you.” Ms Wilson says that having moved on from her I Quit Sugar business two and a half years ago, donating “every cent to charity”, the spirit of giving (she continues to give a percentage of her total income to charity) “has brought about more and more career success”. She now spends a significant portion of her time speaking with big corporations and executives about living “a life of value that’s not based on money”. Another key contributor to her success has been her passion, and she says many of her opportunities arose because she was “passionately involved in whatever it was I was involved in”. “I just started where I was,” she said. “I started writing about certain things that mattered to me, because I had an opportunity to. “So, that’s my advice. A lot of people think they’ve got to know where they’re going to be heading in five to 10 years, but, particularly at the moment, it’s impossible to map out what the future’s going to look like. “The best advice I’ve ever worked to, that I can offer to others, is start where you are and work passionately with what you already know. “Then you’ll get noticed, and the opportunities will come to you. You \\\\\\\[won’t\\\\\\\] even have to try.” “Eventually, you’ll start loving the process of listening to podcasts or beautiful music ... and it \\\\\\\[will\\\\\\\] become part of your wellness routine ... and there’s just a multitude of benefits that play out at the physical and the mental health level.” RETAIL PHARMACY ASSISTANTS • NOV 2020