Of course, we enthusiastically support and welcome all kinds of excellent stuff that happens in the middle of May. Admirable stuff. And if you're a person or organisation that's getting your friends or colleagues engaged in thinking about mental wellbeing or suicide around this time, more power to you. Thank you so much.
But we, and you, and increasingly everyone in society - are now thinking about this stuff day-in-day-out. And not just thinking about it, doing loads of stuff about it. Making it a part of everyday culture, like our corporate partners doing incredible stuff, big and small, all year round. This is great. This is the way it should be.
We're not getting all worthy like, "EVERY WEEK IS MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK GUYS!!1". In fact, we mean the opposite – there's always some kind of awareness day/week/month going on. There's always some problem to think about fixing, some thing you're not caring about hard enough. And it can sometimes get a bit much, can't it? So how about we flip the script this week and just take a f*cking break from it all, mate.
Yes. This mental health awareness week, we encourage you to give yourself a break. Maybe You can be deliberate about taking 15 carefree minutes to do something chilled, something that you love, in your own space. Scrap that, a full day. Or maybe something requiring zero effort with a mate. It's what the Doctor ordered.
If you must do something, some simple ideas...
Grow a pair.
Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to shut up and and listen without judgement. As the great, and stumbling, and worrisome friends that responded to our campaign with SEAT learnt. Have a read.
Have a listen to Dave and CALM's new podcast.
And have a welcome laugh at how our brains respond to the modern world with author and CALM ambassador Aaron Gillies, comedian Lauren Pattison, and a string of very funny people . Share it round your office. Tell a friend.
Sign up to the CALM London 10k takeover.
There's already over 300 people signed up. It'll be a lot of fun. More fun with you and your mates there. In three minutes you can sign up to do something amazing (in a month's time). For now, relax.
