Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Whether you struggle with mental illness or not, everyone needs to take care of their mind just as much as they take care of their body. If you have the flu, you’ll most likely call in sick to work and spend the day at home resting, recuperating, and doing anything you can to get better. So it only makes sense that when you’re feeling extra anxious, depressed, or mentally burnt out, you’d do the same. Unfortunately, this last case is less common. It’s easier to tell your boss you have a migraine than to explain that you’re feeling so anxious you can’t get out of bed. Mental health awareness has definitely come a long way, but mental health issues are still less understood and accepted than physical health issues.
It’s important to realize that our mental health deserves as much attention as our physical health. We take sick days to care for our bodies, so we need to take mental health days to care for our minds. Here are some things to keep in mind in order to have an effective and beneficial mental health day.
First, let’s explore a couple of things to consider before your mental health day begins.
Evaluate how you feel and decide if you need to take a mental health day.
If you’re feeling any sort of discomfort in your mind that physically prevents you from wanting to face the day, chances are you need to take a mental health day. You may feel particularly anxious, depressed, stressed, burnt out, or unwell. You know yourself best. Evaluate the state of your mental health the same way you would with your physical health to decide if you need to take a break from work and other responsibilities for the day.
If you decide to stay home from work because of mental health reasons, don’t feel ashamed.
I’ve definitely called in sick to work blaming physical symptoms instead of being truthful about my mental health reasons. Sometimes, it’s just easier. You don’t have to feel pressured to explain your mental health issues if you don’t want to. But if you do end up being truthful about why you can’t go into work, don’t feel ashamed. Be honest and hopefully your manager will understand. Sometimes when I know my anxiety is not in a good place and I need to take a mental health day, I still feel weak or lazy for not being able to deal with my emotions and get through my responsibilities. If you have these thoughts too, you just have to train yourself to push them out of your mind. You are not weak, you are not lazy. In fact, you are so strong for listening to your mental health and knowing that you need to take care of it.
Once you’ve decided you need to take a mental health day, here are some ideas to ensure it’s as beneficial and effective as it can be.
Rest and relax.
A mental health day is all about making sure your mind feels rested and relaxed. Lie down, get cozy, and allow yourself to take it easy. Just like your body, your mind needs rest in order to recharge and refuel. So during your mental health day, make sure whatever you’re doing helps you to unwind and destress.
Do things that make you happy.
During your mental health day, free yourself from responsibility and do the things that make you happy. This will not only bring joy into your day, but also help you deal with your mental health issues. If you’re feeling any sort of difficult emotion, doing the things you love will distract you and benefit your mental health.
Try not to worry about work and other responsibilities.
Let your mind take a break from everything that makes you feel stressed, worried, or sad. Your mind may wander back to those triggers but try your best to pull it back. Pretend those responsibilities don’t exist, because when you start to think about them, you’ll most likely find yourself stuck in a pit of worry. Remind yourself that you took this day to separate yourself from everything that negatively affects your mental health. Your work and responsibilities can wait.
Enjoy your alone time.
Your mental health day is all about you. You’re in control of how you want to spend your time. Do the things that you want to do and don’t worry about what anyone else might think. It’s essential to have uninterrupted alone time when you’re struggling with your mental health. Spending time alone can allow you to reconnect with yourself in profound ways. A mental health day is the perfect excuse to enjoy some quality alone time.
Talk to the people you love.
Alone time is great, but sometimes you may just need to talk about how you’re feeling with someone. Reaching out to the people you love and trust to tell them how you feel can be scary, but can also be a big help in getting through whatever you’re struggling with. You don’t need to suffer alone. During your mental health day, take some time to talk out your feelings with a friend or family member. You may discover that verbalizing your mental health struggles will help you overcome them.
At the end of the day, take some time to think about how your mental health day went.
Reflect on what went well and what didn’t go so well.
Think about what you did during your day and how those things made you feel. Reflect on why some things went well and some didn’t go so well. Doing this will make you realize the things that helped you so you can do them again, and the things that didn’t help you so you can avoid them next time.
Notice any changes to your mental health and evaluate how you feel compared to the beginning of the day.
Hopefully your mental health day made you feel less stressed, reenergized, and happier. It might’ve been just the break you needed to face your responsibilities again. But it’s okay if you don’t see any improvement. Dealing with mental health is a journey, and your struggles won’t be fixed in one day. Giving yourself a mental health day is one of many small steps you can take to nurture and care for your mental health.
Here are a few things I like to do on my mental health days.
Because I struggle with anxiety and depression, mental health days are essential. When I take a mental health day, I like to spend time alone, read books, watch shows on Netflix, listen to podcasts, eat good food, get cozy in my bed, and write in my journal. Sometimes talking to the people I love really helps, but when I’m struggling with my mental health, I usually like to be alone.
We need to treat our mental health the same way we treat our physical health. If you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, or any other difficult and debilitating emotion, allow yourself to take those mental health days, and do whatever you can to make them effective and beneficial for you. Most importantly, remind yourself you deserve to take a break, relax, and care for your mental health whenever you need to.
what do you think?