Need wellbeing tips blasted into your eyeballs? Wellbeing calendars might be just what you need and Mental Health Month is as good a reason as any to grab one.
As the mental health guy (gave myself that name) you’d think that I was on top of days and months throughout the year that are mental health themed.
But I have a tendency to be somewhat oblivious to exactly what date it is, even what month it is!
So, it was a colleague (Jamie) that reminded me that October is Mental Health Month and October 10th is World Mental Health Day.
She pointed me to the Mental Health Australia website where they’ve created some nice mental health calendars.
What is a ‘mental health calendar’? I hear you ask. Excellent question!
In the modern wellbeing environment in which we live, a mental health or wellbeing calendar is usually a set of evidence-based tips about how to look after your mental health/ wellbeing, allocated to different days of the month.
The idea is that you print out the calendar and put it somewhere prominent or perhaps set it as your computer wallpaper and then each day look at their suggested activity and decide if you might give it a try.
If you are in charge of a communal space, you might decide to put the calendar up for others to see.
The overarching goal (I think) of these kinds of interventions is to promulgate the idea that mental health and wellbeing are built and sustained through daily actions. And a calendar is a great way to get people thinking in a ‘daily’ way.
[just as an aside, do any of you use Outlook as your calendar? If so, would you find it useful to be able to add wellbeing and study tips to your calendar in just a few clicks? Let me know in the comments below]
Whilst some groups like Mental Health Australia focus on specific months, there are other groups that provide calendars year-round.
✨ One of those is the Greater Good Science Center – they have a happiness calendar for every month. ✨
✨ Action for Happiness also have a…….well………happiness calendar also. ✨
So if you like the idea of popping one of these up in a visible place in your life as a healthy nudge towards looking after your wellbeing, get downloading today.
I’ve included one of the MHFA calendars as an image below so you can get a feel for what they are:
