It Is Important To Still Take Mental Health Days

A little over a year ago, I wrote about taking a mental health day and how it was time to stop disguising them as sick days. Some days your brain and your heart and soul need a break so take it. There is no shame in it. There wasn’t then and there certainly isn’t now.

Mental health days still matter. It is okay not to be okay when nothing is okay.

I am taking a Reset Day today. That is what I have started to call my mental health days. Even during this insane time in the world, shutting off your brain for an hour or more is crucial to survival. I am privileged in that I can do this; I realize that. I’d also like to explain how you may think you can’t take one when in fact, you can. This is another method I use to find magic in my everyday, especially when things get dark.

So, what is a Reset Day?

A Reset Day, or mental health day, is a day where I turn all my beacons off. What that means is I try and avoid anything that stresses me out, requires a ton of focus that isn’t pleasurable (like a job application) and I allow myself to do nothing if that is what my body wants to do. I eat something comforting, watch something familiar, stay in bed if that is what today feels like for me. Last I wrote of mental health days, I went to the Met, my happy place, and wandered for hours in the wings filled with art and sculptures and world cultures’ greatest treasures and accomplishments. In the past, I would take myself to the movies, to a show, to dinner. I would have a date with myself doing something I loved and my brain could reset hence the name.

Today, I can do very little of those things. The Met is closed. Movie theaters are closed. Broadway is closed. I have very little desire to eat in a restaurant right now. So today will be spent at home as most days have been in the past five months. Luckily, all it takes is changing my mindset and I am able to do the full reset I need to do.

Today, I will not apply for jobs or look at jobs. I’ll watch a movie or several that I love and can merely enjoy instead of focusing on. I will read. I will write if it calls to me in my novel. The important thing for a Reset Day is I will listen to what I need. It is strange yet unsurprising that I woke up with this plan to do this and my body was more relaxed than it has been in weeks.

Anyone can take a mental health day or hour or moment. All you have to do is listen.

I know it seems impossible for many of us right now. Working from home with children doing virtual learning, working when the staff has been slashed in half and you are responsible for three people’s workload. Stress of the pandemic, of health, of family. The constant fight for social justice and equality, for science, for the fucking MAIL.

I promise you it is not impossible. I promise there is a moment somewhere in the day where you can steal away to a corner and eat a piece of chocolate.

Where you can dive into an internet search of a tropical vacation when we can safely travel again. Maybe your brain break is celebrity gossip or Disney trivia or tips on how to make the best chocolate chip cookies. It might be merely breathing in and out and focusing on your only breath for ten minutes. It could be telling someone you need a break and feeling the power of speaking up for yourself. Maybe it is watching something terribly dumb like the third Twilight movie when your kids go to bed because it is mind numbing and fun. Whatever your moment of happy is, find it and do it. Might I suggest going down the rabbit hole of Christmas puppy surprise videos. It never fails for a good cathartic cry.

Today I am taking a Reset Day. I am conserving my energy and listening to my body to rest, refuel, and remember I am lucky to be safe with a roof over my head. Today I will not focus on what is terrible and what is not working. I won’t think about the dread of the future. Instead I’ll think about my two cats snuggling with me in bed right now and the coffee in my cup.

It may seem trite to take a mental health day during all this. I think it is the most important time to do so. All of us are working in overdrive. We need to slow down before we burn out. The world needs all of us to fight for it in so many ways. It needs our energy, our focus, our passion. It needs our stardust. We have to keep our magic flowing and sometimes, we need to take a day to find it again.

Take your time when you need it. Find your magic again. It is still there, I promise.