Embracing Movement: A Pathway to Emotional Security

Welcome to Mental Health Awareness Month 2024, where this year’s theme is “Moving more for our mental health.” This theme emphasises the important connection between physical activity and emotional well-being, emphasising the pivotal role movement plays in nurturing our mental health journey and cultivating emotional security.

In a world where the pace of life seems to be ever-accelerating, safeguarding our emotional security is paramount, carving out time for physical activity isn’t just a luxury; it’s a necessity for preserving our emotional equilibrium.

Engaging in regular exercise enhances our physical health and also strengthens our emotional resilience. The release of endorphins during physical activity acts as a natural mood elevator, reducing feelings of stress and anxiety. Additionally, exercise creates a sense of accomplishment and self-confidence, essential components of emotional security.

Mental Health UK sheds light on the immediate and long-lasting transformative effects of physical activity on mental health, from the release of feel-good endorphins to the alleviation of stress and anxiety. Additionally, the sense of accomplishment and self-confidence gained through exercise are essential components of emotional security.

5 TIPS TO GET ACTIVE

Start Small and Build Gradually
As you build momentum, gradually increase the duration and intensity of your activities.

Find Activities You Enjoy
Explore different forms of exercise to find what resonates with you, and choose activities that bring you joy and fulfillment. When you enjoy what you’re doing, staying active becomes a rewarding and sustainable habit.

Set Realistic Goals
Set achievable goals that align with your fitness level and lifestyle. Setting realistic goals helps you stay motivated, and tracking your progress is a good idea.

Incorporate Movement into Your Daily Life
Look for opportunities to be active throughout the day, even in small ways. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, and walk, or bike to nearby destinations instead of driving. For additional motivation, consider signing up for the trundl app – an app that turns your everyday walk into charity donations. You can do good while feeling good!

Stay Consistent and Prioritise Self-Care
Consistency is key to reaping the benefits of physical activity for mental health. Schedule regular exercise sessions into your calendar and treat them as non-negotiable appointments with yourself.

In essence, prioritising movement is an investment in our mental health and emotional security. As we navigate the complexities of life, carving out time for physical activity is an act of self-care. Caring for ourselves physically and mentally is an excellent way to maintain a secure lifestyle.

Together, let’s move more for our mental health, for our resilience, and for our emotional security!

If you’re ready to take charge of your mental well-being and want to find out more about how to create emotional security get in touch with us today. In the meantime, have a read of one of our previous blogs discussing the idea of Emotional Security and how we can go about achieving it.

For more information and to be connected with one of our team members to talk about Emotional Security and wider Secure Lifestyle needs, please get in touch.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you a happy month of movement and mental well-being!

Connect With Us

• LinkedIn
• X
• Facebook
• Instagram

Written by Kim Garrett

Hello All, 

I hope you’re having a positive start to this year. I’m just back from a short trip to Toulon, the French military port town. There’s nothing like sea air to recharge the batteries. I’ve been reading a lot on my various travels this year, as you’ll see below, and having read The Art of Rest I’m really trying to prioritise my own version of rest and recovery as we grow, to lead by example. As you know, our 4 pillars of secure Lifestyle are Physical, Digital, Reputational and Emotional, and the products and services we promote across the Emotional Security pillar of our work include ‘Ancient and Brave’ who we feature below this month. Having now met their female founder Kate Prince at a recent Women’s Chapter event, I decided to gift a selection of their products to the whole team, and we are now over the moon to have them as a gifting partner.

We are also very excited to be welcoming new colleagues to Team UMBRA and will be introducing them to you to them in due course. This, coupled with more interest in our UMBRA+ membership, which we are really proud of, and some more press which we are really grateful for, has meant it has been a really productive year so far. We always want to hear from anyone struggling to navigate our sector as it is our greatest honour to champion the best ways to stay and feel safe. We are fast becoming known for being a sounding board and helping our clients and wider community to brainstorm the best and most proportionate solutions to problems and issues.

Now please enjoy an update on our Spring activities!
Kate

Follow my day-to-day here!

SECURE LIFESTYLE AS A SERVICE: UMBRA+

We have been travelling far and wide to meet and talk to our clients (and by that we also mean our Candidates, Collaborators and wider Community that follow and support us). We are proud to say that our Membership (UMBRA+) is proving popular as a way to be proactive and forward-plan your Secure Lifestyle needs. We are working increasingly through other trusted Private Client Advisors (and have been invited to undertake some really interesting ‘wargaming’ sessions recently to help forward-plan our clients lives alongside legal, tax, trust, property and education specialists – we are grateful that the word is spreading. To book an introduction to UMBRA+ and how it helps our private clients (1-2-1, online, in person, or a team lunch and learn) email secure@umbrainternational.com.

Meanwhile as you know by now, a Secure Lifestyle starts with great people at the core – so drop the UMBRA Select Team a line on select@umbrainternational.com to discuss any upcoming requirements you have – there are a plethora of UK/Europe and International roles we are working on. We are so grateful to loyal candidates who, once placed by the team continue to work with us with their clients to promote the idea of Secure Lifestyle services in a simple and risk-resilient way.

PRESS

We are grateful to Tatler for this piece of recent coverage about the benefits of proactive Secure Lifestyle especially when coming to it for the first time.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

This year we marked IWD with The Women’s Chapter Event, a talk at FT (thank you for having me), followed by a and a fantastic evening with Holly Tucker of Holly&Co and eight other female founders. In the spirit of International Women’s Day/Month, I want to shout out to Holly and her team, and also to Sam Jackman at Boost who I met at the Holly&Co evening. Both women are leading businesses that impact retail and healthcare respectively, and both are raising investment as we speak. If any of our UMBRA network are interested, please do reach out to them. I will always use the UMBRA platform to champion those who need it the most and who currently do not get access to the funds they need to grow their businesses, and by extension, the economy. 

WHAT I’M READING

Centennials and The Art of Rest – the former about the most successful businesses that have endured over a century and the 12 lessons we can learn from them, and the latter a fascinating walk through the top 10 ways people get rest from a global survey called ‘The Rest Test’. It goes without saying of course I’ve also been reading the brilliant blog written by Team UMBRA’s Kim and Alex Godwin Brown.  Reputation Security is here to stay and we are proud to be able to help our clients through the work of people like Alex, both proactively and through crisis comms.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO

I recently got to talk about all about the trials and tribulations of a growing business with Kevin Brent who interviewe me for ScaleUp Radio. I’m also really enjoying hearing about Edward Enningful’s life and I had a double dose on a flight recently listening to both Diary of a CEO and Dua Lipa’s podcasts – Dua has set up Service95 – a Podcast and Book Club that promotes deep conversations with diverse global voices. Here’s also to our hero Stephanie Shirley’s IWD message. 

WELLNESS

Nutrition is a good place to start when it comes to our wellness journey. That is why all at UMBRA HQ we are on a health kick with the help of Ancient + Brave, a female-founded, B-Corp company providing pure, potent and sustainable supplements to help you think, feel, and look your best. Click here to see what my other recommendations are for a healthy body and healthy mind. Thank you to Ancient & Brave for letting you all use use the discount codes- “HELLO20” for subscription orders and “WELCOME20” for single orders.

WHAT’S COMING UP

We are a few months into the UMBRA Website 2.0 project so if you’d like to be considered by the Team as a Brand Partner for our UMBRA+ Members please do get in touch by emailing info@umbrainternational.com.

Remember you can book in at any time for a discussion about any aspect of your Secure Lifestyle – no problem is too big or too small for Team UMBRA and our network of the UMBRA Collective hive mind. Email secure@umbratinternational.com. 

One final ‘ask’ to you all – if you’re a central London venue and want to work with us on our Armed Forces Day event in June, do get in touch. As part of our 4 pillars of Impact (we love our 4 Pillars at UMBRA HQ!) is Veteran Support. Working with team members whose families are serving brings it home to me how much we as a business still need to do to encourage others to sign the Armed Forces Covenant (really easy to do; see here for more info), but also how easy it is to hire reservists and veterans in your workplace or organisation as well as supporting those for whom loved ones are often away. We don’t even need a big space, so if you have somewhere in mind for us please email info@umbrainternational.com.

That’s it from me – have a safe and healthy few months ahead.
Kate

Living in today’s hyper-connected world means that we all live our lives under the public gaze to varying degrees, with our lives often subject to public scrutiny, whether as public figures, business owners, or active social media users. At UMBRA International, we recognise the importance of comprehensive security solutions that encompass not only physical and digital aspects but also reputational protection, including online reputation management. Our approach to security is holistic, ensuring that individuals and businesses can safeguard their reputation in an ever-evolving landscape. Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with Alex Godwin-Brown, an experienced reputation manager, to gain insights into the crucial role of Reputation Managers in preserving and enhancing our public presence.

For those not in the know, how would you describe a reputation manager?

A reputation manager is a person who works in public relations but rather than focusing on the profile of a company or business, the focus is on enhancing and protecting the profile of a person.
A reputation manager will work with a person to define what is unique about that individual’s profile; their USPs, their key messages, and their objectives. Reputation management can involve working with philanthropists raising awareness, support, and funds for their chosen cause; maintaining a positive and long-term profile of an industry titan; developing an individual’s profile for a personal passion be it collecting art, cars, watches, or jewellery; or helping people to keep a low profile to protect their family. 
Being a reputation manager means making sure an individual’s “brand” is clear and consistent. Reputation managers work across multiple channels and platforms including social media, company and third-party websites and manage communications with international and national press.

What are some of the top challenges you face?

The biggest challenge I face when working with an individual is the balance between relevant visibility and oversaturation. Hype is the enemy of sustainability. Too much attention attracts what I refer to as the “evil eye” – the philosophical belief applied to a public profile – where a successful person can attract envy or anger. “30 under 30” lists and front cover founder profiles can be poisoned chalices. They attract those that seek out ways to undermine that success, attacking the person’s credibility or accusing them of having an easy path. Others claim they are bored of hearing the same story repeated and journalists lose interest in covering a subject if nothing new is presented.  
It has taken me two decades of public relations experience to be able to find the right balance for each of my clients. Everything in life is cyclical, even publicity and perceived success. The challenge is identifying and aligning with a cycle.
Another challenge – albeit another one I relish – is achieving the goals of multiple individuals within the same family or organisation. 

Why is it important for family offices or business founders to work with a reputation manager?

The first contact many will have with a reputation manager is when things go wrong. There may be a crisis to be managed, it’s stressful, and litigators are probably involved. During a crisis, it’s challenging to make sure a family office or founder communicates their key messages. The wider public is focused on the disaster and the negative messages are the focus of the global press.
As with all things, preparation makes unfavourable events both less likely and more recoverable. Had these family offices or founders been working with a reputation manager from the beginning, there would be a strong foundation and a clear “brand” to protect or re-establish. 

Give us an example of a reputation management situation

A fictitious example for you – Petra, the founder of a health tech company with plans to go public in six to twelve months. Petra has kept a low profile throughout her career but she will attract a lot of media attention once her business is public. Unfortunately, Petra’s high-profile ex-boyfriend is a famous actor, Chris. Petra had not built a narrative about her personal “brand”, the business she had founded, and the story of her career. In the months leading up to the IPO, many industry and consumer publications will write about the business leading with the label “ex-girlfriend of famous actor Chris”, rather than “brilliant founder of health tech business”. 
For Petra frustration turned to a crisis when a tabloid ran a sensational story about her past relationship. Many other titles followed suit, investors questioned Petra’s business credentials, she struggled to attract talented employees, and her health tech business failed to reach its full potential in its IPO. Petra’s profile is now established as “ex-girlfriend of Chris”. 
If Petra had been working with a reputation manager, together they would have built her public profile slowly and sustainably over many years. In this scenario any journalist, investor, or potential employee Googling Petra would find a clear narrative, several sources detailing her business achievements and key terms describing her across multiple platforms. If a tabloid had still run a sensational story in the lead up to the IPO, the reputation manager would mitigate this using Petra’s strong reputational foundation to build upon during and after the crisis. 

How does reputation management connect to a Secure Lifestyle?

Schillings put it well in a report in February 2021: “It’s a common misconception, particularly by those who understandably wish to remain private, that digital reputation management is really about self-promotion and brand building – that it’s about Google rankings, likes and artfully taken selfies. But this is not the case; it’s about critical risk management and taking control of your online profile – which already exists and, if you aren’t controlling it, then others are. In short, it’s something we all need to be doing – and too few of us are.”
There are many similarities and adjacent security benefits to actively controlling the narrative of a personal brand. These include countering defamation and impersonation, and building a person’s robustness and resilience in the face of negativity, anger and envy. 
As with a secure lifestyle, investment in a good reputation makes it easier and less expensive to do business in an increasingly hostile digital and physical environment. A bad or invisible reputation makes it more expensive and time consuming to do business and crucially is a poor defence against bad actors.

In Brief

• A reputation manager focuses on enhancing and protecting an individual’s public image rather than engaging in suspect activities that shows like Succession and Scandal would have you believe. They act as a brand guardian for their client, define unique aspects of their profile, manage communications across various platforms, and ensure consistency in their public image.
  
• One of the major challenges faced by reputation managers is striking a balance between maintaining relevant visibility and avoiding oversaturation, as excessive attention can attract envy or backlash. Achieving this balance requires extensive experience and understanding of cyclical patterns in publicity.
  
• Family offices and business founders benefit from working with reputation managers to proactively establish a strong foundation for their public image. By doing so, they can mitigate potential crises, protect their brand during challenging times, and ensure that their narrative remains focused on their professional achievements. This proactive approach not only safeguards their reputation but also supports business success and resilience in a competitive and disruptive environment.

For more information and to be connected with one of the team to talk about Reputation Security and wider Secure Lifestyle needs, please get in touch.

From all at UMBRA International, we wish you a safe, secure and reputationally healthy future.

Interview by Kim Garrett with Alex Godwin-Brown