How we’re spending Blue Monday

Is Blue Monday really the most depressing day of the year? We don’t think so. The first time it was spoken about was in 2005 and was apparently worked out using an equation that took things like weather, debt and failed new year’s resolutions into account. Those can be quite depressing things, to be fair. But it doesn’t guarantee that we’ll all feel blue that day.

It’s just another day…

A lot of people think of ‘Blue Monday’ as just another day. If you’re dealing with issues like depression, anxiety and loneliness throughout the year, giving one day a special name most likely doesn’t do anything for you… It can trivialise serious illnesses and make light of things that really shouldn’t be made light of. People have said that giving Blue Monday its name actually makes them feel worse, creating anxiety and unnecessary pressure. 

That being said, this January is probably going to be a very depressing one for a lot of people, thanks to the pandemic. Although Blue Monday was created as part of a PR initiative, it was also intended to bring awareness to mental health issues and wellbeing. That can’t be a bad thing, especially during a pandemic.

Mental Health Awareness

As you may have heard, one of our new year’s resolutions as a company is to revamp our wellbeing programme and tailor it to team members’ differing individual needs. We’re not really into the whole group Zoom yoga thing, and we reckon if we’re making sure everyone’s needs are being met as individuals, then we’ll work better as a team.

So we thought Blue Monday would be a great day for us to all spend looking after ourselves. We’re still going to spend Monday working, but on our wellbeing rather than sending emails, making phone calls and having meetings. We’re going to be taking time out of our busy work life to step back, reassess, recharge and relax. As volunteering is proven to produce all kinds of feel-good chemicals in the body, a bunch of us are excited to put some some extra time aside to do some OnHand missions. After our day of zen, we’re going to meet virtually to chat about what we did and how we felt. It’s kind of like a research day for us to add to our official OnHand Wellbeing Programme.

We’ve put our heads together and come up with a menu of different activities to choose from on the day, and an activity log so that we’re staying mindful of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. None of us are mental health experts, but we’re doing our best to look after each other during a really tough time. We want to use this time wisely and really take mental wellbeing seriously, not trivialise it. 

If you’d like a sneak peak of what we’ll be getting up to, then check out our menu below:

You don’t need to wait for a special day to take mental health seriously. If you’re looking to put together a wellbeing programme for your team but don’t know where to start, why not try a wellbeing day and try out some of the tasks on our menu.

We’re a small team and we’re always incredibly busy, so being given a day to look after ourselves is something we’re not going to be taking for granted. We all have mental health. And we don’t think it’s something that companies should be too busy to take seriously.

If you’re looking for some other resources, then the Sanctus Mental Health Directory could help you find the right support. It also includes information on how to help other people who are struggling with their mental health.