R U OK? Day

So yesterday was R U OK? Day here in Australia, a day dedicated to asking all your friends and family the question, with the aim of preventing suicide and promoting good mental health. I have noticed something about this day though, and it's that it seems to really confirm the fact that misery loves company. Sometimes the last thing you want if you're not quite OK, is someone to ask if you are, even if you're not considering taking your own life! 

What I observed yesterday was that most people I know are really just getting by. They're OK, but some aren't necessarily good, most not great. They're not ready to kill themselves, but they could be better. They could be healthier, they could be happier in their career, or they could just do with a little extra money like me. That made me not so OK to know that.

I also observed that there was a seriously bad ju-ju going around the whole day yesterday, and I can't help but think it was everyone's inner misery guts being invited out to play. Maybe it was everyone being forced to actually ask themselves if they're OK, even if nobody else did, but whatever it was, it seemed that literally everyone was having a bad day.

I was feeling really crap yesterday too, hence the lack of bloggage. It was pay day, and once again once the bills were all paid and all the calls were made to the billers about how I needed a payment arrangement because I'm too poor to pay it all at once, I realised exactly how crap we are doing financially. Really I knew it already but when I went to the store to buy a set of digital scales and couldn't even afford to spend $20 on it, well let's just say thank heavens nobody was there to ask me if I was OK, because I would have broken down into a blubbering, snivelling mess who didn't have any tissues in her bag. I went to visit some friends which perked me up a little, but by the time I then went to the physio and handed over more money I really didn't have (in exchange for more bad news but that's another story), and stopped for petrol at a disgusting price, I was back in the land of not being able to afford digital scales. Then, I got home to find something wonderful had happened.

I had a missed call from my good friend - maybe even my best friend - here in Townsville, with a voicemail saying she'd dropped by but I wasn't home, and she'd left a surprise for me at the door. I went and checked, and there hiding behind the esky/chilly-bin/cooler (take your pick) was a set of very stylish, but simple, digital bathroom scales. At first I freaked out because I panicked that I couldn't pay her back, but then I just was so grateful I cried! I couldn't even pick up the phone to call and say thank you, so I had to do it over Facebook! I never would have thought a simple set of scales could mean so much to me.

Later that night it got me thinking, that maybe after getting everybody so down on R U OK? Day, the day immediately following should be Random Act of Kindness Day, to perk up all those people who weren't suicidal but not quite OK either. 

So for all my Aussie readers, maybe sometime over the next week, if you can, do something nice for those friends and family who are just doing it a little tough, because I think we could all use a pick me up after yesterday!

And for all my other readers around the world - in the US, UK, Germany, China, and South Korea so Blogger stats informs me - don't forget to take the time to check in on your friends and family and ask them "R U OK?" and follow it up with a random act of kindness. You never know, you might just reassure someone that everything will be okay, or you even might save a life.

xx