October

I cannot believe it is already October, and I cannot believe I had forgotten about this blog for the last couple of months. I was reminded of it because it’s fall now, in full swing, with leaves turning yellow, orange, red and brown, falling away, and the cold it has brought in. I love fall! I remember that in fall of last year, I was giving out small gifts around the office and other places, inspired by Secret Agent L, and posting “you’re beautiful” notes, inspired by Operation Beautiful. As I signed up for Movember again, I remembered last year my post-its aimed at men. And I remember that although I’ve gone through a lot of emotional pain in the last year, my heart was in the right place a year ago. That person felt hope drift away for herself, but knew that spreading love to others would help mend her broken heart. The Me now loves herself a helluva lot more – anything is a helluva lot more than zero – and still wants to spread the love to others. I’m becoming the person I want to be. Love myself AND others. That’s what life is about!

And so, on that note, I'm setting up a to-do list for October. My inspiration comes from an old post by Emily Schumann of Cupcakes and Cashmere, one of my favorite blogs.

1. Bake 3 pumpkin recipes

2. Go Hiking

3. Drop anonymous gifts (Secret Agent L-style)

4. Recruit a friend to grow a stache and raise funds/awareness for Movember

5. Complete class Science of Happiness on edX.org 

7. Meditate to build intuition and to ground myself

8. Work out 3x / week to get fit for my Hawaii trip in December

9. Help host a fall party 

10. Practice gratitude by counting 3 good things every day

What's on your list this season?

Mental Health for a Man

Hi there.

In the hours since I have become a member of Movember, I have been curiouser and curiouser about what mental issues plagues a man, if any, and what methods (quotes or other means of sharing knowledge...) can help reduce mental problems in the masculine population. 

My logic to date, since yesterday, has been that some men need verbal assurance like women do...but I somehow think the percentage of men is very small. Should I post things like "you are good enough" or "you are awesome"? Or should I try a different approach such as manly inspirational quotes (like yesterday's post-it note)? It's difficult finding suitable quotes for men. 

Today, I found a site called "The Art of Manliness", which is totally awesome!! There is a random post button which is great, and I totally want one. The entire site has manly font and old fashioned pictures which I totally love. (It reminds me of this book "Let's bring back" which lists great old-fashioned activities that aren't popular anymore.) So, I found a page of TONS of manly inspirational quotes on their site. They say that there is a lack of manly quotes on the internet and I totally agree! On this website, they post a few quotes with black and white images of manly men and I think it would be a good idea to print these images and post them as my random notes of Movember awareness.  Here's a good one. I'll print it and post it somewhere in the hallways.



On a side note, since a guy I know told me once he looks up to Georges St-Pierre, the quebecois boxer, I thought of looking up some inspirational quotes from him too. I found some! Here's one:


I'm on it.

Over and out.

Movember

Good day to all, 

It's halfway through Movember, the time when men all over the world are growing mustaches to promote awareness of men's health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health problems. I've known about the promotion of awareness of the men cancers since a few years, but I just learned today that there is also the mental health side of it. Mental health affects women and men alike, but they react and deal with it differently. For example, I'm not sure to what extent men experience anxiety, stress and depression and whether it has anything to do with self-image, self-confidence and relationships with others. I am participating in Operation Beautiful but I feel that it's mainly aimed at women. I want to help men also and I want to prevent mental health issues for both men and women, but what do you tell a man to reduce his risk of depression, anxiety and stress. For me it's obvious that women need confidence boosts by being told you are beautiful, inside and out, that you are worth more than you think. Women have trouble acknowledging how awesome they are. On the other hand, what drives men's insecurities? To me, a woman, it looks like men DO acknowledge that they are awesome. I'm sure many don't but, to us women, men come off confident and worry-free most of the time. I think what happens is that men don't often share their feelings, or even acknowledge them at all, and what causes the stress/anxiety/depression is absent until it hits. Do men get emotional warning signs as much as women do? It's crazy - no one can ever know. Since they bottle up (or have less) emotions, then what do they need to be told to prevent stress?

So, I've decided to join Movember... a little late, but better late than never. Visit my Mo Sista page! I've committed to creating positive self-image to men around my workplace (90% men) and in my life. I'll do so with random post-it notes with inspirational manly quotes, and by dropping out the occasional compliment (or trying to... I'm shy in that department). I'll be taking photos of post-it notes and they might appear on the Operation Beautiful website before the end of the month!

Here's my first message:

Manly, right? I wonder what other manly yet inspiring messages I could write... it's a difficult subject!

I'll also be fundraising in the 11 days I have left...with a bake sale! One thing that makes me happy is baking and I believe I am pretty good at it, and I will be putting smiles on my male coworkers' (and female coworker's) faces. That's what I call good mental health!! 

Until next time,
Happy K-Stache