I’ve had my fair share of mental health days in my life. Sometimes the hustle of every day just overwhelms me, and routines overall can be so exhausting. Why are we so obsessed with working so much? I get it. We’re constantly pushing ourselves and sometimes don’t think we do enough to even deserve a break. Society doesn’t reward lazy days, but it’s essential to our well-being.
Mental health days don’t even have to be an entire day and if you’re adamant about sticking to your work schedule, make yourself a mental health evening. Begin your day with the intent to attend your classes and scheduled shift, but come back to an evening of celebrating you. By celebrating, I mean do whatever you desire. Leave your assignments for tomorrow and just lay in bed. Don’t prepare dinner, just order food in. Life should be about going and taking in the moments. When we sit back and enjoy our presence, we can look back at the day with peace and especially see how far we’ve come.
My mental health days come almost once every month. I wake up and accept the fact that I don’t want to do anything. I get out of bed when my body feels like it, binge watch my guilty pleasure-reality show, and eat my favorite foods. It’s a day I look forward to because doing nothing feels good.
Going about your routine when you don’t even have the motivation tints your work ethic and abilities. I’m not going to give it my everything if I don’t feel my best. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also essential to push yourself and get passed that lack of energy, but a mental health day is you taking a step back. You shouldn’t feel bad about taking a day to yourself. In fact, feeling remorse for taking care of ourselves is something we should train ourselves to stop feeling. We deserve peace and relaxation. We should be able to separate work from our well-being.
Take a day off. You deserve it.