Celebrating Mental Health Day: Traditions and Festivities

First off, though you may already know this, let me define what Mental Health Day is. Mental Health Day is a day devoted to burned-out, overly tired and stressed, usually crabby, possibly homicidal, workers. These workers have been faithfully going to work, putting in their 40+, 50+, even 60+ hours/week, listening patiently while their coworkers complain and their bosses nag/offer "helpful" advice, quietly and dutifully performing their assigned tasks, then going home with "homework" to finish up. The next day entails more of the same, and likewise the day after that. Weeks roll by, seasons change, and these selfless worker bees just continue with their never-ending obligations: placating customers, presenting research data, training new worker bees, undergoing performance evaluations.

As time wears on, so do the workers: their boundless energy and curiosity are long since faded, much like their once vibrant tans. Waking up to pre-dawn darkness, they spend their daylight hours under fluorescent lighting, then exit to night once more. This scenario reminds me of a line (about the dead) from Ecclesiastes: "Their love, their hate, and their jealousy have long since vanished; No longer will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun."

It is precisely because of the gloomy scenario I have outlined above that Mental Health Day (MHD) was instituted. MHD does not fall on a set date; rather, workers choose to celebrate the day whenever they wish/need to, or whenever the boss is away. The proper terms for MHD, if you look at the pay stub of your check, are "sick day(s)" and "personal day(s)". If there is a really dire need to celebrate MHD, your paycheck also has the third official term, "vacation day(s)". I would advise against using a vacation day for MHD, however, unless the first two day types have been completely exhausted.

I have not been privy to information on how my coworkers celebrate MHD. From my understanding, no one that I work with has yet to celebrate this holiday, and most have not even heard of it. Luckily, I have friends, and even parents, who have celebrated MHD, and have told me much about the festivities associated with it. Because activities are varied, I have attempted to categorize them in this article. Here goes:

Sleeping. It may seem odd to celebrate a holiday by just sleeping, but many people celebrating MHD do just that. These celebrants will eventually wake up by noon. Alternatively, many individuals become unwitting celebrants when they fall asleep the night before, and then do not wake up until noon the next day. At that point, most individuals will decide to celebrate MHD that very day.

Visiting friends/relatives. My mother is especially fond of celebrating MHD by visiting relatives. I have faithfully followed in her footsteps, but I tend to visit friends more often than relatives (who might also be celebrating MHD). Also, my mother visits relatives in order to take care of their errands/chores (such as mowing my grandmother's lawn), whereas when I visit, it is to celebrate a birthday/graduation/wedding shower, etc.

Catching up on chores. This is my father's favorite way of celebrating MHD. He will do some gardening, followed by oil changes on his cars, followed by tree trimming, followed by, well, you get the idea. I have also followed in his footsteps, celebrating many an MHD by catching up on chores, and specifically, home improvement chores. Nothing is quite as satisfying as ripping out and installing new wood flooring in the space of 1-2 MHDs.

Shopping. This is another favorite activity of mine. Nothing beats spending MHD by sorting through undies at your local Victoria's Secret store, or sniffing up various perfumes/soaps at Bath & Body Works. Shopping is even more satisfying when you do it right after a major holiday, like Christmas. By being the first one in the stores on a Monday-Friday morning, when everyone else is stuck at work, you can really get at the best deals. Best of all, there are no lines and no waiting!

Taking advantage of lunch deals. Many restaurants offer great meal deals, such as buffets, buy-one-get-one-free deals, drink specials- but only during lunch. So, unless you have 2-3 hours to kill over your lunch break, you're going to be hard-pressed to do that Chinese buffet during the standard work week. Furthermore, the food you eat will probably end up in indigestion-land once you return to the office and find a huge to-do pile on your desk, courtesy of your boss. The only solution to this dilemma is to check out such buffets and other meal deals while celebrating MHD.

Watching TV/movies. Working all the time really puts a damper on my being able to keep up on my soaps. Once you let a week, then a month, go by, you no longer know who's pregnant by whom, who's the latest amnesia case, or who's married to their cousin's best friend's brother-in-law (when actually it's their brother!). Vital information like this can only be recovered by celebrating MHD. Sure, one might argue that a DVD recorder could also do the trick, but pre-recorded soap pales in comparison to live soap, when you're following the action as it happens, play-by-play.

Finishing that special project. I currently have a cross-stitching project that's been haunting me for the last six months now. Try as I might, I can never find the time to sit down and actually finish it. I had a similar problem with my bathroom about a year ago: I wanted to finish a painting that I had started on one of its walls, yet work kept interrupting. After celebrating a couple of MHDs, that painting was miraculously finished.

Taking a trip. Perhaps there is a special bakery that you'd love to check out, but the place closes its doors at 5PM every day, right when you get out of work. Or perhaps you are a history buff, and want to visit a particular museum, but the place also locks up early on weekdays and isn't open on weekends. Or maybe you just want to see what your city actually looks like on a normal business day (when you can go out and laugh at the heathens who don't know about the high holiday called Mental Health Day). Look no further: this is exactly what the MHD was made to accomplish.

Pampering. No, I don't mean the diapers. What I mean is massage, facial, hot stone therapy, hair styling, manicure, and the like. My workplace offers massages too, during lunch, but just how much will I benefit from such massages when I then need to get back to work, and get stressed out all over again? Nope, I'd rather get massages in honor of MHD.

Surfing the Web. I do surf the Web at work- in fact, it's part of my job. But personal surfing is kept to a minimum. If I do any personal browsing/e-mail, I always have my paranoia screen running at full power: any distant footsteps, coughs, etc., and I quickly switch back to "official" surfing/e-mail. This is another reason I love MHD: no need to constantly be looking over my shoulder, or looking at tiny half-screens for my personal stuff! Just this morning I had my Bebo home page front and center, loud and proud, on my computer, while I guiltlessly added comments and drawings to it. Go MHD!

Writing articles for Associated Content. Yep, no MHD would be complete without this activity. Today alone, thanks to my own celebration of MHD, I was able to submit three articles to AC. With my day only half done, how many more articles will I crank out before the clock strikes midnight? Only time will tell!