A&E Doctor, founder of Prescrib’d and author of Live Well Every Day, Dr Alex George joins Happiful’s podcast to talk about self-care, social media, mental health and finding your passion and purpose
I’m quite frankly in awe of Dr Alex George. He’s an A&E Doctor working in a busy London hospital, the Government’s Mental Health Ambassador, founder of bath bomb company Prescrib’d and he’s now released his book Live Well Everyday: Your Plan for a Happy Body and Mind to share his experiences, professional knowledge and life lessons - all to help others help themselves.
Speaking on our podcast I am. I have, Alex reflects upon the past year in lockdown, the death of his much-loved brother Llŷr and taking time out to care for his own mental health and wellbeing.
Self-care
“Self-care is for everyone,” Alex shares. “And if you’re feeling good, it’s what keeps you feeling good. You’ll see on my social media that I often talk about going out for a walk, or a stomp, and it’s been amazing to see people tag me on their stories, saying they’re doing the same.”
Alex explains that it brings him real pleasure to know that people are looking after their wellbeing too. “If I can encourage other people to look after themselves then that’s a really positive thing for me to do.”
Social media
With an Instagram following of almost 2 million, Alex is honest about the fact that managing his online world can be tough sometimes, on top of his many other roles. “It’s a full time job in itself, there’s lots of accounts with the same following that have full time teams, but it’s just me!
“I get real positivity from it though,” he continues. “It lifts me and it drives me. That doesn’t mean that I don’t get fed up with social media sometimes, like we all do.
He believes that it’s important to take time off social media when you feel you need to. “And that’s relevant if you have 100 followers or a million followers. You can choose not to engage with it, not go online and stay off your phone.
“Have some time off social media because it is really powerful, and you can do good with it and create a sense of community but it can also drain people and make them feel bad. Being aware, I guess, is really important.”
Passion and Purpose
“Passion and purpose is very important to who we are and to making us feel like we have a place, a role to play and a story to live,” Alex says, expanding upon one of the major themes in his new book.
“Purpose doesn’t have to be about your career,” he explains. “You might have a separate role that you do, but your purpose could be completely unrelated to what you do for an income.
“With the book, I really wanted to help people think about that. For them to stop and maybe even write a list about all the things they enjoy, what makes them tick, what makes them happy and causes them to smile. I then ask if they are spending time doing that, and what they could change in order to do so.
“A lot of times in life when we lose our purpose, it's because we’ve stopped doing the things we enjoy.”
Listen to Alex’s episode of I am. I have
Live Well Everyday, by Dr Alex George, is out now.
Follow Alex on Instagram
Find out more about Prescrib’d Bath Bombs
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