Happy New Year, is it too late to say that? It's the first blog of the year so I'm going to say it. I set to goal to blog once a month last year and I kept that up so I'm going to up my game and blog twice a month.
Tomorrow is 'officially' blue Monday. This is allegedly the most depressing day of the year, this is based on; it's been a long way since payday, the chances are we've broken our New Years Resolution, and the weather is still bad and it's dark. It is worth noting that blue Monday is totally made up, it was an advertising campaign from the holiday industry several years ago and sadly it has stuck. You are no more likely to be suffering from blue Monday then you are to have a dose of Ruby Tuesday or Saturday night Fever. It sounds trivial but my concern is that it is disrespectful to people who live with mental health conditions. Depression is not something that you can simply buy your way out of, depression is not something that happens on particular days, depression can lead someone to believe that they have no alternative but to end their life. It's great we have greater awareness of mental health, however when people say things such as "I'm a little OCD", because they like a clean kitchen floor that minimises how awful OCD can be for someone who feels like something awful will happen if they don't clean until their hands are raw. Could you imagine people making the same statements about chronic physical health conditions?
Last year I saw allsorts of advertising campaigns built around Blue Monday, including, holidays, meat, and cinemas (remember when we went to them?) This year, I am going to be unsubscribing from people who use this as a marketing strategy. I'm also not keen on Black Friday, maybe I don't like days with colours.