In our regular mental health and wellbeing column this time, we want to hear about your ideas for switching off when you need a break.
Hello and a very warm welcome to our corner of our website where we talk about mental health and wellbeing. If you’ve not read one of these pieces before, it’s a place where we write about things that may be affecting you, us, or people around us.
Our simple rules are: not every article we run is going to be of use to everyone, but hopefully across this series, there’s something that’s of use to you. And also, comments are very welcome.
This time, just a few words about switching off. We’ve touched on this a few times over the last year or two, but we’re going a little more practical here: because we’re interested in how you switch off. After a crappy day for instance, a good friend of mine will just chalk a weekend day off, stay under their duvet, and watch a marathon of movies. Can’t argue with that. The power of the duvet day – if that’s an option – has long been established. 25 years ago, a friend of mine would set her VHS player into overdrive with Amadeus, Dead Poets Society and The Shawshank Redemption playing in a row.
Personally, I’m a movie person too, as I suspect many of us on this site are. I’ve got a collection of movies that I go to when I need a lift. Ones that I’ve seen many, many times before, and that are entirely familiar to me. Some of them involve Kevin Costner. One involves Nicolas Cage and a large plan. There’s the Steve Martin-headlined Parenthood, a dose of Role Models, some Game Night, a soupcon of Top Secret, perhaps even one of the three Indiana Jones films.
Other friends who I’ve talked to go for long walks, and that helps. Or switch off their screens. Or buy huge books – in print, imagine that! – and submerge themselves.
I’m one of the those who also loves delving deep into a big, rich computer game (and am old enough to still call them computer games as well). Anything really to get the head to just buy me some space, a bit of a rest from the other pressures that have a habit of closing in.
A request, then. Can you share us your ideas? Can you tell us what films you watch, what your go-to books and games are? And what helps you when things are getting a bit tough? Pop your suggestions and ideas in the comments, and let’s share a few around.
We’ve got a lovely community here and we’re proud to be a part of it. Any way we can all help each other has to be something positive, we figure.
You all take care and look after yourselves. This column will return next week…
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