Taking A Mental Health Day? Here’s What You Need To Know
Guilt free.
Taking a Mental Health day when I worked in offices was a bit of a strange thing. It wasn’t until my final office workplace that it was something that you could be more honest about rather than saying it was a sick day or making up an excuse.
As someone who has been burned out a few times (well second and third times were probably because I didn’t reset properly after the first), I am now a huge advocate for taking time off to tend to our emotional and mental wellbeing.
First up I think the most important thing to mention is permission closely followed by rest. Give yourself full permission to take the day, don’t feel guilty and don’t check email or respond to messages on your phone. The low level stress that will still be running in the back ground will mean your time off will be less effective.
If you’ve decided to take a mental health day the night before I would suggest letting anyone who needs to know then and then not setting an alarm. Rest and sleep are directly linked to our resiliency (our ability to bounce back) and your body will be thankful for the extra time resting and recuperating.
Fill your day with activities that are actively restful. Get out in nature, cook yourself something delicious and sit down to eat it, call or meet a friend, get creative with a project, read or listen to music. It’s super tempting to go on a Netflix binge and eat take away, and that is absolutely something to allow, but maybe limit it to a few hours rather than a whole day. Befriending yourself and treating yourself as you would your best friend means doing things that maybe go against the grain of our inner critic.
I’ve found establishing a morning routine can really aid in keeping you on an even keel and gives you the spaciousness to respond rather than react. Drinking enough water, eating enough one ingredient foods (think fruit and veg) and spending time in nature are all incredibly grounding which will bring you more into your body; our constant tool to being in the present.
And don’t forget the importance of sleep - take that nap or get into bed even half an hour earlier and reset that clock.
Your mental health is an every changing thing so go slow, be kind and be gentle.
