Mental Health Day

Hi friends and happy Sunday. I so hope you had a wonderful week. And I hope your weekend has been going great.

If I’m honest, and I try to be, I didn’t have the best week. And I ended up taking two, what I call, mental health days. Most of the time, I only take one, but my mind and body needed that extra day to recharge.

My battery was running low. And when that happens, I find myself getting irritated, not being able to concentrate, being moody, feeling like I want to cry at everything, and just overall having no energy or desire to do much of anything. And when that happens, I know it’s time to have a mental health day.

What are the things that let you know you need a mental health day? Do you know what those things are? Maybe it’s one of the things I mentioned. Maybe you get extra irritable and find yourself snapping at your family, friends, or coworkers. Maybe you find yourself zoning out and not being able to focus on the things you’re doing. Maybe you have a hard time getting out of bed. Or you eat too much or too little. Or you just feel like you can’t get it together.

There are TONS of other ways your body tells you it needs some time. And it’s so important to listen to our bodies. When our bodies tell us we’re hungry, thirsty, need to go to the bathroom, or that we’re sick and need to go to the doctor, we listen and take care of it. The same thing should apply when our bodies tell us it needs to recharge mentally and emotionally and physically.

This week, I was irritable. And I could tell. The bad thing is, my coworkers could also tell. I had two coworkers ask me if I was okay or what was wrong. And I just told them I was tired. That wasn’t a lie, but in my mind, there was so much more I wanted to say. And I couldn’t say it because it would have come out “I’m tired of people. I’m tired of being here. I’m tired of everyone here.” But I was able to hold my tongue.

I became highly aware of the mask I put on every day. I’m known to be this happy, bubbly, talkative person at work. That’s not necessarily my personality all the time. And when I don’t have the energy to put up that front, it gets noticed. But wearing that mask every day, and pretending to always be that happy, bubbly person, gets draining. And I can’t always keep it going.

Wednesday was the breaking point for me. It was just a whole day of just . . . Not fun stuff. And I just kinda knew that I didn’t have the stamina to keep going. So, Thursday morning, I decided to take a mental health day. And then Friday morning, I took one as well. That’s unusual for me, really. I typically only take one day. But when I woke up Friday, there was just no way.

Now, here’s the thing about mental health days. You can’t feel guilty about them. You need the time to recharge. And sometimes the weekend just doesn’t cut it. You need a day other than the usual days off to sometimes to just chill. It’s okay. It’s something everyone should probably do more often. And it’s something a lot of people don’t do for themselves enough. Because we’re told we have to be the best of the best all the time or we aren’t successful. But if you’re not yourself, you’re not at your best. And you can’t be up to par if you’re not sufficiently charged.

What does a mental health day look like? Well, that’s going o be different for everyone. We all require different things to recharge. And not all of my mental health days look the same. I require different things at different seasons of my life; and it depends on what has drained me the most.

I do enjoy sleeping in, but I don’t actually sleep in all that much, even on mental health days. And if. Wake up with my usual work alarm and then decide to take a mental health day, I might not even go back to sleep. Odds are, I will lay in bed and play on my phone or watch TV, but it’s unlikely that I snooze anymore.

If it’s one of those days where I watch TV to just veg out and not think about anything, it’s usually some kind of competition show. That’s usually cooking competitions, but there are other competition shows that make the ranking sometimes.

Sometimes I get some writing done on mental health days. I don’t get a lot of time during the week to work on my projects, whether it be the blog or a story I’m working on. So, if I take a mental health day, I get a whole day to devote to those things. Does that always happen, nope. Sometimes my recharge station doesn’t come with a laptop stand, and I choose to let another day go by without getting some of that done. And that’s okay.

I like to spend time by myself on these days. Sometimes, I have to leave the house to be alone. And that can be a good thing too because it gets me in a different environment than the ones I’m used to being in. Panera is a great spot for me to go to if I go out for breakfast or lunch because it’s such a relaxed atmosphere, and I can get some writing done there as well. I love taking my iPad there and typing away.

Mostly, for mental health days, I just try not to think about the things that are weighing me down. Sure, I know I might need to deal with those things at some point, but most of the time, they can wait until I’m back in a good headspace. I need to get my thinking straight before tackling problems or the solution is not going to happen the way it probably should.

Something that I know I should do all the time, not just when things get tough, is have a quiet time. I don’t read my bible or spend time in prayer like I should. I know that would help my mood in the general sense. But it would also help me to have that in my life daily so that when things get to be tough, I can pull from those times in the Word, and will have that ammo against whatever is in my mind. I don’t do that like I should, but I wish I could put a few paragraphs in here about how certain verses are what helps me get through. I am working on that. And one of these days, I will be able to put those here and be able to tell you that I have some more ammo against the thoughts that weigh me down.

Just know, that when you are having times where you need a mental recharge, God is right there for you. He will give you the rest you need if you go to Him. I know this, and I don’t always do it. He is the ultimate charger for a dead battery.

Do you feel weighed down? It might not be an actual problem that needs to be solved. It might be that you’ve just been working nonstop and not had an actual day off in a while. Or work has been crazier than normal and your body hasn’t caught up to what’s going on yet. Maybe you’ve had houseguests and that drained you. Or you’ve been socializing more often and haven’t had some time to yourself. Maybe life has just been tough on you.

Whatever your situation is, if your body and mind are telling you that you need to take a break, you need to listen to it. I know that’s not always easy to do. Sometimes you really can’t get away from work or your family to take a whole day to recharge. But maybe you can find a few minutes to do something for yourself. A small recharge is better than a dead battery. So, find something that just gives your mind a little break so that you can get back to being the you that you want to be.