Nobody asked me but there’s nothing extraordinary that you should be doing on Leap Day.
Wait, let me take a quick step back to explain…
In case you haven’t heard, 2024 is a Leap Year.
I’ve heard. More than just that, I’ve seen a lot of articles and TV segments and social posts lately that are all about what to do on Leap Day. How to make the most of this extra day. What we should be doing to embrace having one more day this year.
Now, back to my unsolicited opening thought. No one needs to do anything spectacular on Leap Day.
Let me rephrase: I don’t think anyone needs the pressure that they should do something spectacular on Leap Day.
Just Put On Pants
I took a similar stance in a blog post I wrote back during the early weeks of the pandemic.
With a surge of people gushing about how they were using their pandemic time to learn new languages, take up an instrument, or start their own podcasts, I had a different take. My unsolicited opinion was that it was okay to just hang in there during the pandemic.
If you didn’t use ALL the amazing quarantine time to do something great, no worries. Only thing you could bring yourself do some days was put on pants? Hey, perfectly fine.
The same goes for Leap Day. No matter how many articles and TV segments and social media posts tell you otherwise, it’s all good if you don’t use this extra day to do something extraordinary.
I’ll run on Leap Day, nothing extraordinary…maybe I’ll make it special by bringing the old man with for a few strides.
Now, some people may feel energized to see it as an opportunity to take the time for something special. That’s great! Yet, others may not be in the right mental health space to approach it with that same gusto. And that’s cool, too.
Thanks for the Check-In, Elmo
Surprisingly, that pandemic post I wrote nearly four years ago now resonated with a lot of people. It’s linked above if you want to check it out.
I think that same message might be needed again right now.
Because, as Elmo unintentionally reminded us recently, a lot of people still aren’t okay. Elmo’s mental health check-in revealed a lot are struggling and feeling fatigued and feeling pressure on a normal day. Layer in the stress of feeling like we need to embrace this extra day by doing more – I can feel the overwhelm already setting in.
So, on second thought, maybe there is something special worth doing on Leap Day. Perhaps the most extraordinary thing any of us could do this Leap Day is take a day off. If PTO isn’t doable, consider a day off in another, still impactful sense. Stay off social media, keep the TV channels away from the news, and don’t touch that inbox.
You can still appreciate every day and carpe diem while keeping things simple.
That’s enough for now. Until next time, stay well!
Lindsay