a peek inside the fishbowl

It’s March, and I’m thinking about the Mental Hygiene Challenge my former workplace used to host every year at this time.

What started as a simple community-wide challenge blossomed into a movement that extended beyond Ottawa. It still kind of thrills me. It was the first time the organization had done this type of community outreach. I learned so much, and gained a lot by it too.

In 2021 I was assigned to write a story about mental hygiene for the organization’s website, after some of our staff had published a research paper about it. I remember how I felt during that first interview. Like my heart grew bigger – or maybe a better metaphor is that the butterflies in my stomach flapped a little harder that day. I knew it was a great idea, and that sharing it with a wide audience could genuinely benefit anyone who read about it (and put it into practice, obviously.) I was uplifted by the concept, and by the people behind it. They were eager to promote it, and hoped the communications department would be open to collaborating on supporting materials, perhaps with infographics, that sort of thing.

I had the perfect idea.

Longtime readers here will know that I’ve hosted public challenges on the blog. I’ve always been keen to try something new, and having others join me always made it more fun and kept me accountable.

Skimming through my archives (I have a whole category just for challenges) I’m struck by how many there have been. The Shopping Embargo, Sugar-Free Challenge (that one was written up in the Ottawa Citizen), One Dress for Thirty Days, the Hourly Photo Challenge (which had many editions!), the 21-day Vegetarian Challenge, 25 Days of Christmas (remember that one? I did that for YEARS and I know many readers did too). Those are just the ones I remember.

So why not make a challenge out of mental hygiene?

I brought the idea to my small but mighty team. They were as excited as I was and immediately saw the potential. The first edition of the challenge launched in 2022.

Mental hygiene is a pretty simple concept. It refers to small everyday practices that support our mental health. It’s a kind of preventative maintenance, not unlike the hygienic routines we already do on autopilot, like brushing our teeth or showering.

For the challenge, we asked participants to spend at least 10 minutes each day on research-approved practices from our list: meditation and mindfulness exercises, time in nature, gratitude practice and journaling.

There were a lot of moving parts to all of this, including sign-up forms, a microsite, and a long list of how-to videos. As the resident writer, I provided content when it was needed, whether it was for the website, video scripts, internal posters, or e-newsletter text. In the final year of the challenge I had the idea of writing 31 emails, one for each day of the month. They were designed to keep participants inspired and engaged, and to prevent what we called “failure to launch,” that all-too-common gap between signing up with good intentions and actually following through.

Participants also had access to a range of printable materials including: colouring sheets, journaling prompts, and progress tracking calendars. Our graphic designer created several designs so people could choose and print whichever one they liked. It was in the second year that I suggested a unicorn rainbow theme. Some eyebrows went up. Rainbows and unicorns were not exactly “on brand” for this organization, but my goal was to get people interested and keep them interested. If a rainbow unicorn calendar on the fridge was the missing link, we had to make it happen. It turned out to be the most downloaded design. (You can see it here.)

The challenge grew in ways that we didn’t anticipate:

– A research component was added and we were able to show that daily mental hygiene has a positive impact on mental wellness.  (Guillaume Tremblay and his co-author Nicole C. Rodrigues gave our team a nice shout-out in their most recently published paper, The Mental Hygiene Challenge – A Novel Public Mental Health Intervention.)

– We hosted a free in-person event where folks could learn from our experts, take part in demonstrations, pick up printed resources, ask questions, and connect with fellow participants.

– We maintained a private Facebook group for challenge participants, which quickly became an unexpected highlight for everyone involved. Members shared their highs and lows, and cheered each other on. We also hosted live discussions on Facebook to inform and encourage participants and answer any questions they had about mental hygiene.

– In 2023 we produced a podcast called Let’s Talk Mental Hygiene, co-hosted by yours truly alongside our expert, Guillaume. We covered some of the bigger topics in mental hygiene in greater depth, sometimes with guests.

We received so many glowing testimonials from participants, and every single one warmed our hearts. People told us that mental hygiene was easy to fold into daily routines and that it helped make caring for their mental health feel more intuitive, and even fun.

I remember chatting with a volunteer at our organization about the mental hygiene challenge. She told me – apologetically – that she didn’t have time to really dig in, but that she had picked up one thing that genuinely helped her get through her most stressful moments. It was the simplest practice in our toolkit, to take deep breaths.

It’s what I do too, and now I do it without even thinking about it.

The final challenge took place in 2025, but I hope the people who heard about it over the years – whether they read a social media post or caught a segment on the news – tried out a few of the practices. I hope something from that project stayed with them, like it stayed with me.

This will come as a surprise to absolutely no one who knows me but I am a creature of habit and I reeeeally like my routines. I love them! I thrive in them! I feel productive and satisfied when the outcome of a particular routine is accomplished.

I’m not making any huge promises but this, here, is my attempt to carve out a new Friday routine for myself. As I no longer work full-time I am reserving this day for Other Things. (Sidebar: the work story is a very long story. You can reach out if you’re not sure what the heck is going on.)

I have been freelancing on a (mostly) part time basis since the summer and I only just recently realized that I can actually set some parameters around my work week (duh). So I’ve announced to all parties that my work week is now Monday-Thursday. Fridays, as I mentioned are for Other Things. Some of it will be boring stuff, like grocery runs, appointments, and meetings. On the brighter side, I’m taking on some new volunteer work, so I’ll schedule it in there. I envision longer walks at lunchtime. Maybe coffee dates! And maybe, just maybe, there’s space in there for creative writing and other projects. I feel like I’ve lost sight of that side of me and I don’t want it to slip away forever.

After Saturday’s post I should have reported back immediately but neglected to do so because of some weird stuff that was happening with the admin side of this blog. ANYHOO, we are ok. We are alive. No one was kidnapped or murdered at the site of the rock excavation. In fact, that whole part of the day had very much pirate/treasure hunt vibes and we got some good garden rocks out of the deal. Behold:

In my next post I’ll share more about what other fun stuff we did in Kemptville. And don’t worry, it has nothing to do with rocks.

I have felt like a bit of a wreck lately. I haven’t been sleeping well. I had a sizable cyst removed from my back (I’m ok but ew). I have been dealing with sore knees for weeks, and most recently, an eyelid infection. The latter means I can’t wear makeup. I know that’s vain but there it is. And did I mention I’m not sleeping well? I look and feel like a zombie and I’m kind of done with it. And so, with that, I am trying to change my mindset and focus on good things at the moment. Like summer.

I can’t believe it’s June 22 already. It’s officially here but we’ve actually been in summer mode since the spring. :) To celebrate summer solstice, Mark and I went to the NCC bistro along the Ottawa River to see the sun set and ran into friends who had had the same idea. It was a happy happenstance, and I left there feeling something akin to New Year’s, that I had inadvertently recalibrated and set myself on a direction that I like and want to go. Ahead of me, is a brand new summer, and all I need to do is fill it up! (Ok, yes there’s work, and other stuff, but leisure time is MY time! What I choose to do with it is within my power.)

Of course, it helps to have a plan. For the past few years I’ve kept a note on my phone called “summer bucket list.” You can read a few of those posts in the archives if by any chance you’re looking for something to do in and around Ottawa.

How I create that summer list is pretty simple: as soon as I read or hear about something that I want to do, I add it to the checklist. Doing this ASAP is key because I’m sure to forget otherwise.

There are too many things to list here but some of our bucket list highlights so far include the Diefenbunker. I think the last time we visited was 15 years ago. There have been a few updates since then, but some things haven’t changed, like the blast tunnel:

We also checked out an Atletico soccer game for the first time ever. We had a good time but it was the afternoon of the Run for Women and it was absolutely sweltering. Our seats were two rows up from the field. (I am embarrassed to admit that I accidentally cheered for the wrong team. Clearly I have a lot to learn about soccer.)

We enjoyed a sunny day trip to Voyageur Provincial Park for outdoor R&R (plus paddleboarding and grilling and General Picnic Things):

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Also not to be forgotten, Petroglyphs Provincial Park, which was excellent. I don’t have photos of the petroglyphs to show as it’s a sacred site, just me, on a woodsy walkabout after the fact, and this sign saying no photos allowed:

… and, most recently, hiked the Rock Dunder trail outside of Kingston. We HIGHLYyyyyy recommend it. It’s an excellent trail and the view is the perfect payoff. I could have lingered longer but we were rushing to hit up a brewery in Kingston before it closed.

There’s something really enjoyable about creating a list and checking things off, especially when FUN things are involved. It’s so satisfying to look back on all the things you did… AND it’s also nice to look forward to things on that list.

I would like to say that TODAY, Saturday, Mark and I are checking another activity off the summer bucket list but that is not to be. We are actually heading out to Kemptville** to pick up some rocks for our garden. This is a Facebook Marketplace arrangement and I am mildly worried about it for several reasons so I will make sure to report back. (I assure you that it’s likely to be safe, and Mark will be with me, and we’re bringing a crowbar (I am not kidding, it’s to help us move the rocks) so don’t worry!)

** We are attempting to make this into a bit of a roadtrip and include a lunch at a Kemptville bakery (?) and another stop along the way (TBD?). We shall see what happens. Sometimes the funnest summer fun is the unexpected kind. Right? ;)

I am now the proud owner of an 11ft inflatable stand up paddleboard, aka a SUP, which means I can go around saying things like SUP GIRL etc etc. to the consternation of poor Mark and the kids.

We rent kayaks when we go camping every year, which I enjoy as well, but the SUP has even greater appeal to me. While there are kayaks that you kinda perch on top of, and kayaks that you lower yourself down into, in both scenarios you are stuck sitting on your bum with your legs sticking out in front of you. And that’s FINE, sure, but a SUP is completely flat, like a surf board. You can stand, sit down cross-legged, sit with your feet dangling in the water, kneel, and even lie down. Some people even do yoga on their paddle boards. I can’t quite imagine having this kind of balance, but maybe someday.

This is me on a SUP last summer at Bonnechere Provincial Park, clearly living my best life:

I was skimming the photos from this trip and there were quite a few snapping turtles in the mix, which reminded me that the paddle board is a nice vantage point for wildlife sightings.

For me, the SUP is about relaxing as much as it is about fitness. It does require some work to paddle in a forward direction, and of course, the whole experience relies heavily on having good balance. (CORE muscles, folks!) But seriously, one of the best things ever is paddling away from a busy beach and lying down in the middle of a lake. No bugs, no sand in your face, just the gentle rocking rhythm of the water. It is heaven on earth. Friends, this is my happy place. And I can even BRING SNACKS WITH ME. Unbelievable.

The SUP is exercise and rest, a workout and a meditation, and everything in between, and I think that’s pretty cool.

Having an inflatable SUP means I can easily transport and store it. While some people keep their SUP inflated all summer, the length of this thing means I don’t have an easy place to store it if it’s inflated.

The list of places I want to SUP is about the length of my arm so far, and growing. Half of them are along the Ottawa River. Westboro Beach is about 5 minutes away by car. There’s also Britannia Beach and Shirley’s Bay. Did you know you can paddle board behind Parliament Hill?? Eastward there’s Petrie Island, of course. And let’s not forget Mooney’s Bay and Dow’s Lake. And then there’s the Quebec side… ahhh! So many options within a metaphorical stone’s throw.

What I would really like to do is go to a place where there’s a kayak rental, so Mark and I can enjoy some time on the water today. There are Ontario Parks sites nearby that have this, which is another option for destinations. Speaking of which, we had the good fortune of snagging our dream site at the Achray campground in Algonquin Park this summer, so me and my board will be tooting around the lake there for sure.

But the time being, I’m going to focus on places with little or no motorboat traffic. I’ve been out on a board maybe a dozen times but I feel like I need to get better. And although I’ve never fallen off a SUP I should practice getting on one while in the water. (And yes, I will make sure to wear a life jacket. I caught a great sale at MEC and bought a new one.)

Anyway, it’s shaping up to be the summer of SUP, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.