Welcome to our first monthly WWCode Wellness Toolkit: Code of Balance. Each month, we’ll focus on a wellness theme, providing helpful self-reflection activities, resources to support you, affirmations to boost your thinking, and even a motivating Spotify playlist to keep you inspired through the month. Join us on this journey of holding each other accountable for overall balance.

As you strive to achieve your goals, advance in your career, and maintain a fulfilling personal life, it’s easy to overlook the foundation of your aspirations: your well-being. But sometimes the lines between personal and professional life often blur, self-care is a guiding beacon in the chaos. We often share words of empowerment about how self-care and mental health, and overall wellness are important to thrive in our personal and professional lives. After the encouraging words comes taking action. Figuring out the actions you need to achieve this, or at least begin to balance your overall well-being, no longer has to hold you back from getting started on your journey.

This month we’ll be exploring Self-care!

❣️Just a reminder, we are not mental health professionals – just your tech besties sharing what works for us! If you are experiencing any health issues or mental health crises in the workplace, please contact your People Team/HR or a mental health professional.

Wellness Toolkit: Self-Care

🎧 We encourage to start with this month’s September Self-Care playlist as you go through the rest of the toolkit.

Defining Self-Care for Yourself

There isn’t a singular definition of “self-care,” and it’s personal to you. But meeting your basic needs daily are the baseline, such as sleep, eating, drinking water, moving your body, and socializing. This month’s Wellness Toolkit is to help you explore the symbiotic relationship between taking actions to care for your well-being and holistic growth. It encourages you to understand how nurturing yourself within and outside the workplace can lead to unprecedented personal and professional development. Self-care is not necessarily visiting a spa or taking yourself out on a shopping spree, and can cost nothing while saving you from burnout. Self-care is not selfish.

Remember, self-care is an ongoing process but you aren’t alone! This toolkit will give you inspiration to help you improve your wellness so you can excel in your technology career.

Checking in: How’s My Self-Care?

Grab a glass of water, tune into our monthly playlist, breathe, and answer some of these questions, out loud… seriously.

How’s your Self-Care?

If you answered “yes” to all or most of these questions, congratulations! You’re on a positive path to self-care. Enjoy this month’s playlist and share this toolkit with other technologists who could benefit from this check-in and the resources below.
If you answered “no” to all or most of these questions, below, you’ll find some tools and resources we love to inspire you to achieve self-care through the month of September.

Self-Care Tools You’ll Love

Check out some tools you might love for relieving stress and finding balance! Below, you’ll find some great examples of apps, books, podcasts, and more to empower you each month to thrive on your wellness journey!

📱 Apps

Factor75 | Eat well with less planning and stress by using meal-delivery services!
Headspace App | Take a break with a guided meditation to create more headspace!
Lake Coloring | Relax with creativity apps to help reduce stress!
Libby App | Find and borrow free self-care e-books, audiobooks, magazines and more from your local library to support your wellness journey!
SWORKIT | Improve your physical wellness with apps that support health and fitness goals, with tips on movement, meditation, stretching, and more!

📺 WWCode Content

Studying Skills for the Tech Interview (includes a self-care interview checklist!)
Reset & Recharge: Humans Neet It To Just Like Devices
Restore Your Mental Health and Create a Resilient Mindset

Affirmations for self-care

An affirmation is a positive statement you say or think that reinforces self-belief and personal goals. Research tells us that affirmations work because of neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections in response to learning. You can change your brain by changing your thinking, which can support a more constructive mindset.

Take a few minutes, find a quiet place, and read out loud or listen to this month’s WWCode affirmations on self-care for diverse technologists.

Embracing self-care enhances my creativity and productivity as a diverse technologist.
I honor my boundaries and communicate my needs confidently.
Taking care of myself empowers me to excel in my career journey.
I embrace balance in my life, nurturing my personal and professional growth.
Self-care is not selfish; it’s an investment in my success.
I listen to my body and mind, adjusting my routine to promote well-being.
I take breaks without guilt, understanding they contribute to my long-term success.
By caring for myself, I enhance my skills and contributions to tech.
Self-care fuels my passion for learning and innovation in my tech endeavors.
Every action I take toward self-care enhances my career and overall fulfillment.

📚Wellness resources

If you or someone you know is in crisis, free and confidential 24-hour support is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or call or text 988.

Previous Monthly Toolkits

Each month, we’ll link previous months’ toolkits! Stay tuned for October’s toolkit: Mindfulness.

Code of Balance Wellness Toolkit: Self- Care

Wellness Toolkit: Self-Care