Today it’s Christmas Eve, for those who celebrate Christmas. Earlier this week, others celebrated the winter solstice. Jewish tradition places Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, around this time of year as well. This time of year (at least in the Northern Hemisphere!) has long been a time to recognize the longest night of the year.

The summer solstice is the longest day of the year with the shortest night. After Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night, the days grow shorter and shorter as the nights grow longer and longer. 

In terms of the Earth’s journey around the sun, the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year with the longest night. (I’m not even going to get into the whole Daylight Savings issue that we have here in the US!)

We celebrate and push back against the darkness with light: candles, candelabras, Christmas tree garlands, fairy lights, menorah, the Yule log.

How else can we bring light?

Health and wellness

We write a lot about staying healthy and active on our blog. 

You know our mission is to save people’s backs – we started with ours! In addition to lifting up work surfaces, there are other ways to promote back health.

Movement is key! Not just about losing weight, though that’s great for your back too. Stretching and moving at your sit-stand desk, because standing all day isn’t great for you either. There’s a lot to modern-day living that almost seems designed to push us into sickness and lesser mobility. Fortunately, you can fight back – even by making your seat wobble.

What else do you need for wellness? Intangible things like sleep and gratitude.

Safety and safety culture

We like to write about safety too. Staying injury-free is another great way to save the back. Sometimes ergonomics is where it’s at – at work AND at home.

Management doesn’t always understand why a safety culture is so important. Warehouse managers might get it all too quickly when a major incident occurs. But retail workers need safety too.

So does your family! A lot of our readers who come from ESH backgrounds understand this pretty readily. They know they’re setting an example for their kids. Even hosting parties can be done safely!

Sharing and learning

We are big fans of continuous education! We want to know what kinds of issues our clients face, so we can serve them better. And we love to know what you’re doing regarding safety. Which is why we ask for your feedback in the comments!

When we learn more, so do our readers. The tip that you have for your pickers might work for another safety manager’s team. You never know! So keep those comments coming in. (We approve them individually to make sure we’re not publishing spam.)

Bringing light in 2020

We’re grateful for all our readers and customers! We’re on a mission to save your backs, and we’ll do what we can to help that happen.

We’ll keep learning about the new technology that helps people get moving, even at jobs where they sit around all day. Technology that keeps people safe in the warehouse, the retail or grocery store, and all the other places where safety culture is so important.

We’ll keep finding those hidden gems, the things that people don’t realize have such an impact on safety or on back health. Humans are a pretty amazing organism, and there are feedback loops from mind to body and vice versa that can promote good health. Or the opposite.

How are YOU bringing the light next year? Let us know in the comments.