January 13, 2024 – Mental Wellness Day

Saturdays. It’s my “be a person day.” I took almost all of 2023 to learn how to stop working and just spend a day being a person. I had no idea how rewarding it feels to do my recycling. I just love it. I live in an apartment building, so I have to bring my recycling to the recycling depot. I do my recycling almost every Saturday. I also love sleeping in on Saturdays and I love going out for breakfast (which is one of my most favourite things to do… especially if it’s at a hotel restaurant). Now, my body just says, NOPE… no work for you!! Today, I filled up my car with gas, picked up a package at the post office, and recycled. It was rewarding and enjoyable. Then my daughter and I went out for lunch. Chinese food was today’s cuisine. I loved it!!

I was told by a couple of colleagues to just take Saturdays off. I never believed them and it took about a year to learn how to REST, to take time for myself, and to do what’s important to me. The latter was the toughest for me. What’s important to me? So much has changed for me. I could say that I would not even recognize myself if I compare myself to who I am today to who I was 10-years ago. I guess that would be a given. People change, but how I feel is incredible. It’s tough to describe. I’ve never been happier and there is a lot of room to be more happier. That’s the exciting part for me. I was even in my “doom scroll” on my phone tonight and saw a post by a colleague reposting an article about suicide and bullying.

Saddened. I empathized with the contents of the post and horrified by the idea that we live our lives in ways that are not authentic to ourselves to the point where taking one’s life is a viable solution to the problem. Honestly, I’ve been there before. I’ve never attempted taking my life, but I can see how dark it can be when we are the recipients of horrid behaviours or doing things that are not aligned to who we are. Then, I flipped back into who I am today. I am happy. I know that HAPPY is my #OneWord2024, but I am well on my way. I can’t wait for what the year has to bring. On my “be a person day” today, I not only did what I’ve just mentioned, but I went grocery shopping, cleaned the fridge, and cooked too.

I have never felt better. Be happy. 🙂