Work. Errands. To-Do lists. Meetings. Family. Can you say stressful? There are so many reasons in your life that you need to take a day for your health. Here are a few ways to tell if you need to take a mental health day and things to do on your day!
Do you need to take a Mental Health Day?
- take stock of your stress levels right now – do you already know you’re stressed out?
- are you constantly anxious?
- are you exhausted but having trouble sleeping?
- does your to-do list look like a CVS receipt?
- are you feeling low?
- can you focus?
- do you keep getting sick?
- do you feel disconnected?
- are you reading this and finishing a project and online grocery shopping because you don’t have enough time?
Did you answer yes to any of these questions?
Yeah it’s definitely time to take a mental health day.
Ideas for your Mental Health Day
- take an workout/yoga class
- sleep without an alarm
- take a walk in nature (maybe with your pup!)
- get a massage
- get some doughnuts
- or eat super healthy (whatever)
- turn your phone off
- stay off social media
- read a book or those magazines you have in a stack
- NO WORK
Okay so you’ve decided you’re going to take a day for your health and you’ve got some ideas for it, but there’s one more thing you need to do. Schedule it. Talk with your supervisor – my job will let me use a sick day to take a mental health day but yours might require you to take a vacation day. Don’t get me started on that.
I’m a big proponent of scheduling your day off for a few reasons:
1) it gives you time to schedule those pampering sessions – hello deep tissue
2) if you’re going to lie to your work about taking a sick day it’s just going to make you feel worse and your anxiety level go up so schedule it with your office to make it easier on you
3) you can give your immediate family a heads up to keep from bugging you
Even if you work from home taking a day for your health is important, why? Because you’re still working! Make sure you keep the door to your home office closed or your laptop in a drawer because there’s no working when you take a mental health day!
PS tomorrow is World Mental Health day. It’s an international day focused on global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. You know I talk a lot about mental health here, especially about mental health regarding your time at work and in your career. You can see more about my posts on mental health here. One of my goals is to make it easier for women to talk about mental health in their career and to decrease the stigma behind speaking up about mental health. I hope you do the same.
