Are We There Yet? A Gut Check on our Industry Health and Wellbeing
Earlier this month Cathy and I spent a week together in Atlanta considering how ABG can continue to evolve to best serve the community. One of our topics of conversation was whether ABG should monetize the concept of “wellness” for beverage alcohol professionals.
It piqued my curiosity to return to the 2017 article titled “The Challenges of Working with Wine” to consider how far have we really come over the past four years in our attitudes toward industry health and wellness. After all, the responses to that article were the motivation for launching A Balanced Glass. While a lot has changed in four years, and even more so in the last 18 months, are we really seeing large-scale progress on this subject?
Essentially – how far have we really come?
It has been encouraging to hear this community share how their own attitudes to mindfulness, moderation, and mindful drinking are changing for the better; how mental health conversations are becoming a little safer; and how a moderate or abstinence approach to drinking has become more normalized.
But it still seems that most of these initiatives, discussions and resources are being developed by grass roots organizations, led by motivated teams of individuals dragging a still-reluctant industry to evolve.
While we continue to see the growing consumer interest and attitudes to alcohol and health, and the explosion of the low and no-alcohol offerings, it appears that creating opportunities for professionals to prioritize their health and wellbeing remains the responsibility of the individual. It is still largely the domain of a few deeply motivated teams of individuals and small companies to lead this charge. But should it be?
I say, we need to dial up the volume on wellness around alcohol and health for the industry in a broader sense.
Jaime Araujo, Trois Noix Winery founder, recently said that, while a decade ago, having specific health and safety officers was not even a consideration in most wine companies, today few if any of those same companies would consider operating without those officers.
The same can be said today of mental health wellness and support. Araujo believes that the holistic health and wellbeing of employees and industry can no longer be the icing on the cupcake; it is as critical to the success of any business as the flour is in the cupcake recipe.
This commitment takes industry leadership on a much bigger scale. It is as much the responsibility of employers and their leadership as it is their employees taking action.
While we are working hard on making progress and developing initiatives, we cannot do this work in a vacuum, and we would love to hear what your company is doing about prioritizing individuals’ health and wellness.
Please share with us the good news stories, any new ideas and initiatives that your employer is offering. Share where and how it is happening so that we can support, partner and help others to tap into the flow of resources, tools and initiatives that can help develop the industry on a larger scale.
We're at rebecca@abalancedglass.com and cathy@abalancedglass.com .
We would love to hear your insights. We still don’t have the ‘million dollar’ idea, and know there is still so much more work to do. We are here for it.
Namaste,
Beck
What We're Reading:
Here's what has piqued our interest this week in the world of wine and mindfulness.
We’ll Give You a Week Off. Please Don’t Quit - By Tiffany Hsu and Lauren Hirsch for The New York Times
“Operation Chillax”: Companies are trying to combat burnout from working remotely by offering more time off and other perks.
Five Ways to Train Your Brain for Another Covid Season – The Wall Street Journal
The start of a new, post-pandemic normal many of us expected this fall isn’t happening. Finding ways to reset and thrive these next months will take extra resourcefulness this time.
Why Are So Many Knowledge Workers Quitting? – by Cal Newport in The New Yorker
The coronavirus pandemic threw everyone into Walden Pond.
3 Ways to be Kind to Yourself (and Our Planet) - Mindful
It’s common to feel anxiety for our planet. Here are three ways you can ease that ache and show both yourself and the earth, kindness.
5 wellness tips to fuel your morning – WellBeing Magazine
Nutritionist, naturopath and chiropractor Damian Kristof shares his top wellness tips to improve your health, including a hot chocolate from Pana Organic.
Unwinding Your Anxiety Habit Loop - Mindful
Coping with anxiety is difficult, but we can begin to untangle our anxious habits when we recognize how they show up in our daily activities.
Meet the Community!
Here we meet some of the talented folks who make our community profession so dynamic.
Sam Viklund, Account Supervisor at Jarvis Communications, Los Angeles, California (USA)
Years in the Industry:
Seven years. I got my start in wine while studying at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I was fortunate to take an anthropology of wine course with Professor Deborah Heath, a scholar of the cultural significance of terroir as it relates to food and beverage. While studying, I gained hands-on experience through an entrepreneurial internship at a small winery and vineyard in the Willamette Valley, which solidified my choice to pursue a career in wine.
After college, I worked as a wine buyer at an Italian specialty market and as a server at several wine-centric restaurants in Portland and San Francisco. My entry into the world of fine wine marketing and communications was through an internship that lead to a full time position on the Public Relations team Colangelo & Partners. Then in 2019, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a role at Jarvis Communications, where I currently oversee and execute public relations campaigns for a number of fantastic wine clients.
My Top Three Challenges to Wellness:
1. Time Management and Organization.
As we all know, working in the alcohol business is not always easy - it’s a crowded, competitive space and the hours are long across the board. In order to succeed and stay well, I have to be organized and intentional with my time and stay on top of my calendar and to-do lists while also making time for rest and personal pursuits - it’s an uphill battle for me and a work in progress.
2. Moderation and Mindfulness.
I have to remain diligent and focused on keeping my own consumption in check. It takes a lot of self-discipline to set healthy boundaries around drinking and eating when promoting, discussing, and experiencing these things occupies the majority of my time.
3. Isolation.
I’ve lived alone in small apartments for the duration of the pandemic, which has been an interesting journey. The past 16+ months have made it abundantly clear to me that we all need our “village” more than ever. We are lucky to have so many new tools at our disposal to facilitate this.
How I Keep It Together to Stay Well:
Networking and Team Building - I genuinely love connecting with people, getting to know them, and ideally being of service to them in some way. Building strong personal and professional relationships keeps me going, and I am thankful to work for a company that fosters a culture of mutual respect, support, and collaboration.
Healthy-ish habits
While I delight in indulging while dining out or entertaining, I keep things pretty healthy and light in my personal kitchen. I’m not naturally athletic or particularly fond of exercise, but I feel best when I make time to walk every day for at least an hour, ideally more.
An Academic Lens
Wine is so endlessly complex and there is always more to learn. I approach it as I would school, it keeps me sharp and engaged to constantly read and study.
What Inspires Me:
I am inspired by the tenacity and resiliency of those who, in the face of fire and disease and broken systems, have kept the wheels turning and figured out how to make it work. I am inspired by and grateful to those who are working to make our industry a more inclusive, safe, and equitable place for people who have historically been excluded.
A Quote I Love:
“Use really good olive oil” - Ina Garten.
You can connect with Sam on Instagram @samviklund and Linkedin
NEW Episode: The Fine Line Podcast - Episode 23: Dr Todd Dorfman
For the latest episode of The Fine Line Podcast: Balancing Hedonism & Health, the team speaks with Dr Todd Dorfman. Dr. Dorfman is the Founder, CEO, and Medical Director of Cedalion Health, which he opened in 2002 in Boulder, Colorado, balancing a private practice with his role as an emergency room doctor.
The Fine Line Podcast is co-hosted by Lisabeth Danneels and Emily Gold. Even the sub-title (Hedonism & Health) indicates the commonalities with A Balanced Glass. Please check them out!
