To describe Ruth Limkin in one word, it would be ‘intentional’
CEO of The Banyans Healthcare Group shares her personal and professional advice for holistic health.
As CEO of The Banyans Healthcare Group, Ruth Limkin lives and breathes health and wellness, championing the crucial but often overlooked act of focusing on wellbeing alongside managing a busy workload. This mentality has not only proven beneficial at work but also saved her life.
While following her own guidance to be intentionally aware of her own health, Ruth went to the GP after feeling a lump in her breast, which after many tests led to a diagnosis of breast cancer.
“While that’s never the news you want, because I had caught it so early, the treatment was much less invasive than it may have been if I had neglected getting it checked for a few months. I know I was fortunate and am so grateful to be cancer free, it keeps me intentional about looking after myself,” Ruth said.
After treatment, business woman and cancer-survivor Ruth continued her work at The Banyans Healthcare Group advocating for a stronger focus on holistic health and wellbeing.
“I think the first thing we need to do as a society is give ourselves permission to rest.”
“We live in a world that has an unhealthy obsession with work and it can almost feel irresponsible to rest. However, all the research shows that a well-rested leader is a more productive leader,” Ruth shares.
“We need to learn to put the science of human recovery into practice and engage in activities that restore us.”
The Banyans Healthcare Group has a large focus on encouraging business owners and executives to take the time to destress and look after their wellbeing by recharging.
“We are passionate about helping people find health and healing in an integrated way. Think of rest like business meetings, they need to be part of our schedule. It is important to think about strategy as it is to be fresh and improve our cognitive wellbeing to allow that strategic thinking to happen.”
“As hard as it is, we have to learn to give ourselves moments of rest,” Ruth said.
Ruth promotes a positive and renewed perspective on business leaders taking the time to actively recharge and take care of themselves.
“Leading a company or working in a high level position means it’s tempting to always stay online and be available. It’s important to remind yourself that you have capable, well trained professional team members to share the load with you and it’s important to let them.” Ruth said.
“I think this idea of wearing ‘busy’ as a medal of honour has instead become a weight around our neck.”
“It’s important to acknowledge the stress we have faced in the previous year (or two) and be aware of the physical and emotional tension we carry from that. It’s also likely that sleep and gut health has been negatively affected.”
“To recharge well, we actually need to reduce our alcohol and processed sugar content to give our bodies and minds the chance to restore and be intentional about creating healthy sleep habits,” Ruth advises.
With her business and health expertise, Ruth provides vital tips for business owners on how they can relax and destress.
“Some of the things I find helpful is being active in recreation. I buy really great, absorbing fiction novels – often suspense novels - and start reading them on my first day of holidays as a way to ‘hack’ my overthinking and stop it thinking about work.”
“I encourage everyone to have a great psychologist or therapist that they see twice a year to do a check in and recalibrate. We get our cars serviced once every six months, so we should give the same attention to our soul.”
“I think the key is to choose things that spark joy and be intentional about putting them into our break,” Ruth said.
“Understanding that the most responsible thing we can do is rest is an important mindset to develop so that we don’t undermine our own performance,” Ruth shares.
“After the disruption of the last few years, it would be a really refreshing opportunity to take some time to reflect and set some goals about the kind of life we want to design.”
“Activities that nurture our wellbeing must become non-negotiable.”
Ruth Limkin is CEO of The Banyans Healthcare Group which consists of The Banyans Medical Centre, The Banyans Health and Wellness and The Banyans Health Plus.
