Previously posted to Linkedin where everything is supposed to be pretty, positive and uplifting, and nothing like this… #SorryNotSorry

Blue Monday is nothing more than a marketing invention that I wish people and brands would stop marking in their activities and social media calendars and what have you, as it commercially exploits mental health with made-up myths and as such trivialises mental health. You are honestly doing absolutely nothing whatsoever for people with genuine and serious mental health struggles when you commodify mental health that way.

By all means, do nice things for your staff, colleagues, family, friends, strangers, et cetera. But do it because you want to, or because they need it, or because they asked for it, or a combination of those, as and when you think it's appropriate (or even if/when you do not observe an actual or immediate need). Just do it from the kindness of your heart or for pretty much any other reason than because it's on your marketing calendar as another disingenuous opportunity to signal virtue or raise your own or your brand's profile or image.

Look around you every day of the year and see how you can really help the people around you struggling (mentally or otherwise). If you are in a position of power or influence, work with your brand and company to improve provisions for the people in your organisation who can do with proper support in relation to their mental health or physical health or family/caring commitments. (Hint: Your ✨EAP✨ and ✨MH first aiders✨ mean nothing if your internal protocols, work environments, and day-to-day operations effectively push people out and make it unnecessarily difficult if not nigh-on impossible for them to return.)

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Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay

You can keep you sweet treats, pizzas, entertainment and other performative, social-media-pretty gestures today if you fail at any of the above on any other day of the year (and then weaponise what you did today as a rebuke to anyone calling you out on that).

This post is free to read but you are welcome to buy me a coffee.

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