I ended up taking a last minute mental health day this past Friday and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how good it felt and how needed it was.

We will often take a sick day when we are physically ill, but how many times have we been in a mental state of mind that is causing our internal “check engine light” to come on and we don’t do anything about it?  We know the issue is there, but we ignore it until the stress continues to build, and we start to feel that we are going to snap if one more thing happens.  

Going weeks and months running on empty is just not healthy and taking a mental health day can do wonders.  If you have the ability and the vacation or sick time to cover it, I strongly urge you to plan a mental health day. It’s a day for you to do what you need to recharge and re-set your mind.

For me, it’s taking my little boy into daycare and going home so I can sleep and get things done. Here’s a small snapshot of what I did.

~ Target for Starbucks coffee and shopping

Maybe shopping doesn’t seem like the thing to do on a mental health day, but just getting out of my own routine during the week was so nice. I didn’t plan to buy a single thing, but then of course I found a cute shirt and I had a little spending money this month, so I splurged. We (my husband was with me as well) also found a cute trick-or-treat bucket for Gryffin in the $1 section…which actually really was only a dollar.

~ Went out to lunch

Azteca to be exact. I love Mexican food and we don’t eat out at sit-down restaurants very often, so it was a nice treat.

~ Read a book and took a nap

Yes, I actually picked up a book! I found “Unseen” on a different e-book app. I’m happy to finally be reading again. It didn’t take long before I fell asleep, but it was sooo nice to do both.

~ Yard work

This might not sound very fun, but it felt good to be out in the sunshine. They say being out in nature is a huge stress reliever and I have to agree.

It was nice to have something productive done by the end of the day. Finding a mouse at the edge of the garden bed….not so nice. Yes, I screamed bloody murder, more by the surprise of it rather than over the mouse itself. *shiver*

Anyway, here are 10 more ideas to do on a mental health day

• UNPLUG – I can’t stress this enough. Get off the internet and your phone
• take a bubble bath
• work on a craft project
• journal
• take a long walk
• sleep in and/or take a long nap
• pajama and movie day
• get a massage (only if you have the money)
• get a mani/pedi (only if you have the money)
• Do something productive – tidy the house, deep clean a room, do the one item you keep putting off in your house. Finishing something on your to-do list can feel so, so good.

I hope everyone tries taking their own mental health day. If you have other ideas to add to this list I would love to hear them!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Much Love,

Cami