Not Myself Today at Work

Have you ever woken up and knew the moment you opened your eyes (or even before) that you just couldn't make it to work?

It's happened to me. 

There have definitely been days where I have been too anxious to leave my house... or my bed. Then, I would feel guilty for calling in sick to my job because I wasn't physically sick. I was mentally sick. Unfortunately, at the time, that didn't feel like a legitimate excuse.

Lucky for me those days have long past, and I'm hoping they never return. 

Not Myself Today @ Work 

But, see the image above? There are still 500,000 people who miss work every single day due to mental illness. 

(The following info I've taken from the Not Myself Today website because it's just so perfect.)

In January, a major step forward was taken with the launch of a National Standard for Psychological Health and Safety which promotes good mental health, and prevents psychological harm in the workplace. That is an important start.

Now, the work to make real and lasting change begins. We need to get more and more companies on board and taking action to support mental health in the workplace. This is exactly what the new Partners for Mental Health campaign will focus on. 

The Not Myself Today campaign was created to proactively deal with our mental health. Every one of us has had a day when we don't feel like ourselves. Now, imagine living with those feelings not just for one day, but many days - and the shame, discrimination, and lack of treatment and support that goes with it. This is especially critical at work - where so many of us spend so many hours a day.

The Not Myself Today campaign is designed to educate and engage Canadians on the issues of mental health in the workplace through the month of May, and culminates in a national Not Myself Day @ Work on June 6.

(Okay, now back to my words.)

How can you get involved in this campaign? Oh, there are so many ways! SO MANY! 

1. You can get involved as a company or organization in three ways: Support, Engage, or Invest.

2. You can plan an event at your place of work.

3. You can share your own story about your experiences with mental health at your workplace.

4. You can pledge your support for mental health awareness and action in the workplace.

5. You can learn more about the importance of your mental health at work.

6. You can buy some cool merch!

7. You can create your own mood badge! 

To learn more about this exciting campaign, starting May 9, 2013, visit the Not Myself Today or Partners for Mental Health websites! 

(Photo sources: Not Myself Today)

The biggest project of them all

Hey friends!

In my last blog post, I promised to tell you a little more about the projects I'm working on. I figured I would start with the biggest one as it's taken up a lot of my time lately:

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!

We're having a real baby! I just can't believe it! I'm 13 weeks and a couple of days now, so I feel like I can finally talk about it on the Internets. I have to say, the last couple of months it's been really hard for me to write about anything on this blog because I felt like I wasn't being authentic. I wanted to tell the truth about life, but of course, we were worried about announcing anything too soon.

And, life for a while consisted of sleeping, spending time on the bathroom floor, and eating potatoes. So, really, there wasn't much to talk about. :)

But, now, I feel like the first trimester cloud is lifting a little bit, and I'm gaining back my energy and motivation to blog. Yahoo! I've missed it, and it's nice to be able to be REAL now.

Needless to say, I haven't been doing much work in terms of mental health over the last couple of months. But, that's about to change! On April 26th, a fellow Partners for Mental Health volunteer and I will have a PMH booth at the 2013 Connexionista Conference: I'Mperfection hosted by the awesome Sheconnex team. I'll be sure to blog about that! And, if you're attending, come by and say hi!

Also, very soon I'll be blogging about PMH's spring campaign which is all about workplace mental health.

Plus, Canadian Mental Health Week is coming up on May 6-12, and I can't wait to talk about that.

As for the Hula Hoop for Mental Health event I talked about hosting in a previous blog post, I think that's going to have to wait for next year. I'll definitely research and plan it this year, but once the summer hits, I'll have one large baby belly, and I just don't know if it's the best timing to be planning such a big event.

I did receive some awesome comments from readers about what they thought of the event, and I'll definitely keep that input in mind when I start planning! So, thank you for that.

Anyway, it feels really good to finally share this news, and so you can probably expect a few preggie posts over the next few months. I'm due in October, so we've got a little ways to go yet!

Have an awesome week!

Um... hello, March?

**Sitting down to the computer, embarrassed, trying to figure out how to start this blog post**

Ahem...

Hello! Hello sweet readers. It is me, your friendly neighbourhood blog ditcher! It's so nice to see you again. It's so nice that you're here reading again. It's so nice that you don't hate me (or do you?). 

My apologies for not writing for over a month. I read in a blogging book once that you are NEVER supposed to apologize for not writing on your own blog, because basically it makes you look like you believe that people are actually sitting at their computer WAITING for you to post something. I know that's not true. But, it makes me feel better to apologize, okay? Just let me.

I'm not sure how a month has gone by since I posted here. I love this place. But, life got in the way. I would think about blogging and then three days would go by. And then a week. And then over a month. 

I have to say though that February was a very exciting month. I got started on a few new, cool work projects that make me super happy so a lot of energy has gone into those. I got sick. That was fun. I'm still sick actually, but I'm feeling a bit better. And, I got started on planning some other new, cool projects that I'm excited to share with you very soon. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, I would like to give a very late shout-out and thank you to the lovely Jillian of the Choose Good Project for featuring me on her blog in late January. Her blog has such a wonderful message, and I'm just so grateful to have been a part of it. So, thanks girlfriend! Check it out if you have a free moment!

Also, a special thank you to Partners for Mental Health for sending me and all of the other Community Correspondents this sweet token. 

Being a part of the PMH volunteer team has been such an amazing experience so far. I'm super excited to frame this and hang it so I can be reminded every day about the importance of talking about mental health.

Speaking of which, I'll be blogging about their brand new spring campaign very soon! 

I hope you're having a happy and healthy weekend so far! Looking forward to chatting with you much more frequently from here on out. :)

The Ninjamatics' 2012 Canadian Weblog Awards!

Well, what a day yesterday was!

I found out Mind of Change won second place in the 2012 Ninjamatics Canadian Weblog Awards in the Best Weblog About Activism & Social Justice category!

I absolutely cannot believe it. I feel so honoured. I never in a million years expected to place in this competition. So many incredible blogs were nominated. If you have a few moments, please visit the page to check out the other winners in my category, as well as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners in the other categories.

Thank you so much to the organizers and panel for giving me and my little ol' blog this awesome opportunity. I'll wear the badge proudly!

A Sweet Surprise, Vine App, and Bad Weather

I feel like this blog post could be three separate blog posts, but they really should go together. So, I'll be as brief as I can!

Today my husband and I took a vacation day from work, and we planned on going to Ottawa to do a bunch of fun things. But, a messy snowstorm hit our area and we had to turn around about 10 minutes into our trip. Boo.

One of the things we were going to do was surprise someone - who I've never met in real life - at her work to say thank you for something she did for me.

Here's a little back story...

It all begins with a really cool girl named Laura Kidd:

Isn't she gorgeous? Like, look at those eyebrows.

I've only met Laura through Twitter and blogging and Instagram and so on. She's a Communications Assistant with The Royal, and she's blogs at The Fashion Kidd.

A few weeks ago, she asked me if I would mind if she nominated me for The Royal's 10th Annual Inspiration Awards. I was all like, "Whaaaaat!? Me?", and I just couldn't believe it. It made my life. It meant so much to me that someone I had never met in real life wanted to take the time to nominate little old me for such a cool award.

So, of course, I said, "Yes!"

Last week, Laura told me that unfortunately I hadn't been chosen for this year's award. But, I was very cool with it! I had read about last year's award winners, and I hadn't done nearly what they had in terms of mental health awareness and action. I really would have been shocked if I had been chosen. I was just so grateful to have had the opportunity to be associated with something so cool.

The whole experience made me realize that I obviously had to do something for Laura to say thanks! Obviously! But, what? Well, instead of just mailing her a gift, I decided to go surprise her in real life!

So, my hubs and I planned on going to Ottawa today to bring Laura some flowers and a thank you card. He was going to take a photo of us for this blog. It was going to be awesome. We also planned on visiting the Partners for Mental Health office - another place I had never seen in real life! Oh, and we had to make a stop at IKEA.

These were the flowers I was going to give her. Yes, WAS.

We bought the flowers and headed on our way. And, then about 10 minutes into the drive, our car fishtailed on the highway. Luckily, it was very slight, but it was enough for us to realize that we couldn't go any further.

BOO!

The roads were gross.

Unfortunately, today just didn't go the way we had planned. But, that's okay! Thanks to Instagram and Vine (hello, have you tried that yet? So cool.) I was able to photograph and videotape a bit of our trek and her flowers.

Since Vine is so new and you can't embed videos into blogs, here are the two videos I took: One and Two.

Thank you Laura for taking the time to nominate me for something so amazing. It means the world. And I'm just super grateful to have met a new friend... one that I can hopefully meet FOR REAL some day soon!

Call for Committee Members: Hula Hoop for Mental Health!

Hi!

I've received some very encouraging feedback from people who are into the Hula Hoop for Mental Health idea. Thanks! Woo! It made me realize that, hey, this might actually work.

But, it also made me realize that I can't do it all on my own. So, I want to put together a planning committee - the HH4MH Planning Committee!

Friends: Do you want to be on the committee? If so, let me know! It would not be a big commitment AT ALL. And, I promise, I will offer you sugary treats.

I'm thinking the committee would meet once a month or every two months for like two hours until the date of the event... which I still haven't figured out. See? A committee is necessary, people!

So, if you want to get involved in this by sharing some of your ideas and/or time, that would be fabulous. Just contact me!

Source: wishflowers.tumblr.com via Pablo S. on Pinterest

Hula hooping, 1950 (Walter Blum). S)

Bell Let's Talk Day - Office

YAY! That is exactly what I said when I first saw this commercial. I also threw my hands in the air.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Bell for making this commercial! It's so simple, yet it says so much. Good job x 3579287.

Bell Let's Talk Day is coming up very soon. Actually, it's February 12 to be exact. You can learn more about it here!