{"id":275,"date":"2023-04-03T23:03:15","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T23:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wellbeings.nz\/?p=275"},"modified":"2023-05-06T04:58:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T04:58:13","slug":"would-the-real-chris-hipkins-please-stand-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellbeings.nz\/would-the-real-chris-hipkins-please-stand-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Would the real Chris Hipkins please stand up?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/strong>Would the real Chris Hipkins please stand up? The politician gets candid about Covid-19 weight gain, being a better dad and how everyone deserves to have a bad day at the office.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Life hasn\u2019t always been easy for Chris Hipkins over the last few years. Just like you and me, he\u2019s a guy trying to do his best at his day job. We talk to Chris about how he avoids taking that pressure home with him, what the pandemic has done to his family life and some surprising realities about one of our most well-known political figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot from the past few years that none of us were prepared for – how have you dealt with the stress from all of that?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I think there’s a lot that I wasn’t prepared for in the COVID-19 response space. It wasn’t a job that I really put my hand up for, It was one that I kind of ended up with through a whole variety of different circumstances. But I’m one of those believers in life that when opportunities come your way, you take them. And if you think you’ve got something to offer, you should offer it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it’s certainly been a lot of pressure, very long days and a lot of unpredictability. One of the key things for me is I’ve had to learn to adapt, where there’s just constant uncertainty; we\u2019re often having to change our plans and change our thinking at the last minute. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uncertainty creates a lot of stress \u2013 how are you when it comes to managing that stress in your own life? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Well I’ve gotten better at it over the last two years, being put into the pressure cooker of the COVID-19 response. It\u2019s sort of a sink or swim experience; you either learn to manage the stress or you don’t. Keeping things in perspective is incredibly important. So, when I’m under a lot of pressure, one of the things that helps is to think about the pressure that every other New Zealander is under at the time. Because it isn’t just about me, it’s actually about the whole country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, I’m very fortunate; it’s a stressful job but I think about small business owners who are remortgaging their houses so that they can continue to pay their staff. I think about the health workers who are having to make life and death decisions on a daily basis. And that helps to keep things in perspective, you know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s not always a lot of empathy shown when it comes to our politicians. For you as a person, how do you handle a big day of bad news, when you hang up your coat at the end of the day? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You don’t get a lot of time to sit back and reflect \u2013 you move from one major pressure point to the next one. And you don’t get a lot of time to stop and think, you know, \u201chow much pressure am I under?\u201d Because you’re just trying to deal with it, with whatever’s in front of you. And so, one of the things that I’ve found is you just have to make space, whether that’s going out for a walk at lunchtime for half an hour. I’ve tried to lose a bit of weight, because I put on a lot of weight in the first year and a half of doing this job. And so, just trying to make sure you\u2019ve just got to force yourself to make the space to do that. Otherwise, it just gets all consuming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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