Halloween seemed like the perfect opportunity to share the horrors of a week-in-the-life of yours truly. I exaggerate, of course, this mental health nightmare isn't exactly what I go through every single week, but maybe some variation of it.
Monday meltdowns are definitely a thing. I don't know why, but Mondays are overwhelming at best. Maybe you relate?
Of course, Sunday Scaries and Monday Meltdowns are twins of terror - they go hand-in-hand, fanning each other's flames, so to speak.
Gosh, Halloween is such a fitting time to be writing this post. I'm loving it.
Ah yes, Tuesdays - the crash. If this is indeed how my week has started off, Tuesday is probably my favourite day of the week - we don't have a morning meeting on Tuesdays.
This means I don't have to wake up and brush my hair or do my teeth. I can start work looking and feeling like a monster, and nobody has to know!
The midweek hump, I'm trying to pull myself together by Wednesday. It's going to take a lot of tea.
There was a midweek meeting in the morning, and I've managed to fool everyone into thinking I'm winning. If only they knew...
I adore Thursdays. There's no morning meeting. There might be some training this afternoon, but the weekend is in sight and I'm gaining momentum.
Thursdays is for feeling like a normal, capable person, and not a freak-of-nature-Frankenstein-being who is so completely broken and damaged that they'll never know what it's like to be human.
Cue violins. Or haunting Dracula-esque church organ, whatever.
You'd think that Fridays were the best day of my working week - but no.
No, no, they most definitely are not. We call them "Deep Dive Fridays" at work...
The main aim of the day is to be sucked dry of every last ounce of brain juice left over from the week...
Give it your all, get all the things done!
Ah yes, my one-day weekend (Sundays don't count, as we've already established).
I should probably have an alarm set for Saturdays, because sometimes, I sleep right through it.
Clearly this is a very silly, and mostly exaggerated account of my weekly mental health struggle. I haven't included what the opposite end of my mood disorder spectrum looks like - because mania is way too scary for Halloween, let's not even go there.
It's true that a lot of mental health struggle does happen behind the scenes though, and I think this goes for people who are diagnosed with a mental health disorders and people who aren't.
So I just wanted to acknowledge, during the scariest week of the year, that we're all facing our own demons, and they don't just show up for Halloween.
Disclaimer: my boss isn't a slave-driver and the company I work for is very supportive of mental health.
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Hi Zara,
These are a really well drawn set of images, and it's great that you have a supportive employer.
Wishing you a happy Halloween!
Gerard 🎃