How you doing? How you really doing ? Friday 9 October 2020, Day 205

Whoa, I'm happy in my mental health, Whoa, these conversations with myself, Whoa, they say that only time will tell, Whatever I'm happy in my mental health!

When I logged on to my laptop this morning my screensaver reminded me that tomorrow is World Mental Health Day and if I wanted more information, I could visit the intranet. Ten minutes later I was going nuts as could I find it, naw! Eventually after looking in the right place eh voila, fud!

There was a lot of interesting stuff there and it got me thinking about a video call I had with a good friend a few days earlier. We were gutted as due to the ever-changing restrictions we were going to have to cancel a meal that we had booked to meet up with our friends.

Although we both knew cancelling was the right thing to do, you canny moan about the rule breaking wankers and do it yourself. But we were dying to see each other, so we went through some “scenario planning”

• What if four of us pretend to be couples and we are considering adopting a 44-year-old daughter who would be joining us for dinner.

• We all live together as our partners left us for a younger model and we are plotting revenge first wives club style.

• Let’s get fake IDs made up, pretend we are the undercover police trying to catch rule breakers

Obviously, we cancelled, we then started to talk about lockdown and although we are out of a national lockdown for a lot of people things haven’t changed that much and sadly in a lot of cases situations are worse. People have experienced illness, lost relatives, friends, pets, jobs and often along with that a loss of a sense of pride and purpose to get up each day.

I am very grateful I have a good job and can work from home, still don’t like it but used to it now. I can go to the shops and exercise (no that I’ve done any) and until this week the pub and cinema but sadly I can’t visit my friends and family in their home.

Mentally I do feel much better than I did before, I don’t follow the window cleaner round the house anymore, the ASBO put an end to that and my loins no longer yearn for Tam Hughes, so that has to be progress right?

But there are still cracks and at times I can feel isolated, tearful, and vulnerable and I’m sure I am not the only one, whatever the situation people are still struggling. Yet I’ve noticed that catch ups are getting less and less as is the checking in with others. I'm guilty of it and being honest sometimes I have a right good pity party to myself as sometimes I feel that it's always me who arranges catch ups, what about someone arranging one with me? But does it really matter who organises it as long as someone does?

Not only with it being world mental health day tomorrow but because it's a good thing, why don't you reach out to someone this weekend and ask them how they are really doing, it will be good for you too.

Stealing my good friend Liam’s mantra, "Be the reason someone smiles today" after all there is no present like the time.

Take Care x