Today, I decided to take a mental health day. I haven’t taken one in a very long time. Usually, I don’t take time off until I can’t function anymore, and at that point, it’s a sick day. Even CNN thinks it’s a bad idea.
I encourage everyone to take a mental health day every once in awhile. Sure, there are weekends, but if you’re anything like me, I spend them doing housework and visiting family. (I hope you don’t think I’m too much of a party animal!) Life goes so fast, and I always seem to be thinking in the past and planning for the future. That’s why a mental health day is so important. It’s a one day vacation where you can just catch up to the moment.
So, what does a mental health day entail? You can do anything you want! I prefer to stay home alone (I get so much done that way), but the world is your oyster. You can watch your favorite TV shows, read a book, go for a walk, or even spend the day sleeping. Maybe you like video games. Maybe a day trip. It’s your day and you can do anything you want.
If you need some ideas, this is how I spent my day:
- Browsed Reddit and Pinterest
- Cut collage items out of magazines I need to recycle
- Made the bed
- Sang as loud as I wanted while vacuuming
- Dislodged the sock I accidentally vacuumed up (whoops)
- Reorganized my kitchen
- Back to Pinterest, where I found a recipe for homemade pretzels
- Sliced my finger open on the food processor while making said pretzels (double whoops)
- Watched Parks & Recreation reruns and nursed my poor finger
- Soaked my feet. Couldn’t find anything fancy, so I used dish liquid
- Played with my cats
- Admired the IKEA art cart I assembled yesterday. Råskog means, “Awesome job, Clean!” in Swedish*
- Drew with charcoal
- Drank a deliciously artificial grape soda and enjoy it (rather than my usual process of stressing about the corn syrup and purging)
- Went to get replacements for all the ingredients I lost
- Went to a small farm stand where I fed a pig and pet a cow.
* Not actually true
So, how will you spend your mental health day?
