Taking A Mental Health Day

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Do you ever take the day off for no real good reason? I don’t. I hate to feel like I’ve wasted my time. I usually save my paid time off for vacations or family outings where I’d need to travel, I don’t use it to relax.

This week, I had plans I had taken off of work for that fell through. So I decided, why not take a day for me? February is my busiest and most stressful month at work, a mental health day was much needed.

So I brainstormed a bunch of things that would make me happy, make me feel good, and set me up for success for the rest of the week.

I started the morning by sleeping in, then had a breakfast sandwich and cup of tea. I left to get my nails done, which I never do. I then treated myself to a bubble tea at a new tea shop. Followed by dermaplaning and a facial peel at a spa! It was definitely a bit of a splurge day, but I almost never do things like these because I just don’t have the time. After all of that, I just felt good about myself.

I had done a few things to make me feel prettier, put things in my body that made me feel happy. I took a trip to Trader Joe’s (I love TJ’s if you haven’t caught on) and picked up some noms for the rest of the week. I ended the night with walking my dog because luckily my mental health day fell on one of the warmest days of this winter!

It felt good just to do something for me. To only think of me for the day. To have some time to myself when everyone else was busy working.

Do you ever take mental health days?

42 thoughts on “Taking A Mental Health Day”

  3. I do take mental health days when I’m lucky enough to have one! But sometimes (like this week actually) I have to remind myself to take better care of myself. I realize I haven’t been doing that so I’m trying to be more mindful of my thoughts and doing more things that make me happy.

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  5. Bubble tea is great. I love this drink too. There’s only a couple places I will buy bubble tea from, and they happen to be expensive. For a while I bought bubble tea once a week, especially during midterm season. It’s my go-to drink when I’m feeling stressed.

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  6. My company did some gender pay balancing last year, then I got a promotion and pay rise. In September I stopped working on Fridays and compressed 90% into the remaining 4 days. Having a day a week to spend however I like – getting jobs done on my schedule, drinking coffee in peace, just chilling out, meeting friends for a walk – is bliss. It’s a proper break from the constant frenetic busyness of work and home and kids. Taking time for you is so good.

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      1. It’s doing me the world of good. My workload hasn’t changed and work is very busy but having some peace and above all control over my schedule is bliss. We lost our 3rd son just over a year ago, at 20 weeks pregnant. The aftermath of that is giving me cause to seek peace and take care of me.

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  9. Working in mental health, I understand the necessity of a mental health break. And I’m thankful that I have a supervisor that not only understands the necessity of such things, but also encourages such breaks. I desperately need a mental health holiday. But the practicality of taking a day off just stresses me out more than actually going to work. Because if I take a day, I have to find coverage for all of my clients and that really feels like a huge hassle.

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  10. Mental health days are so important but it took me along time to realize how much I needed one. Taking care of your physical health is more obvious but we tend to forget about our mental health. I’m glad you were able to take a day and treat yourself! Now I really want bubble tea too. 🙂

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      2. I haven’t had many issues and I’ve had mine since 2012! A few years ago I had to get a few things replaced that ended up being a little costly but I didn’t have to do any work before or after that.

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      3. Wow, that’s amazing. I’ve yet to do any work on my Hyundai *knocks on wood*. They make some of the most reliable cars on the market and I have one of their most reliable models. 😅 I also do more maintenance than I need to and don’t drive often so this car has a long life ahead. Too bad I’ll need to sell it in a year. I need something that can tow. 😦

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  17. This is so important! I’m so glad you shared experience with mental health days! Making “me” time is always the hardest thing for me to do.

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  18. I think that this is something very important. Mental health is not a joke. I am a student athlete and I also work as cook. MY daily life is super busy. I started to suffer of a lot of stress that lead me to suffer from depression and eating disorder in the pass. Thats when I realize that I need to take days for myself when I just chill and relax. it had help a lot with my problem. And reading your article gave me more ideas and remain in how important it.

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  20. It can be so easy to feel like taking time for ourselves is a waste of time. In reality, time for self-care is not only important, it’s critical! Thanks for this.

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  22. Id recommend we all take a mental health day. I agree with the other comments at least once in a quarter. A day just to yourself and having me time even if you just do your normal work as long as you can get in the right headspace and recharge.

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  24. I’m so used to always going going going and my family is the same way so I always feel guilty for having lazy days, but you’re right we shouldn’t feel guilty about it!

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  26. I am a mental health professional and luckily a generally reasonably physically healthy person. I do take mental health days- in my line of work, I see how important it is to acknowledge that mental and emotional health IS health- just as legitimate as physical illness. Until about 10 years in to my career however, I felt guilt taking a day when I needed it. It took time and doing it and seeing that it was both reasonable and paid off in better productivity and quality in my work the next day to stop feeling that way. Now, I take these days when I need them and have never been questioned. I do not abuse this, but use it wisely and I feel it keeps me from becoming physically unwell. However I am aware that many of us do not honor our emotional and mental wellness in the same way, and so I often do not feel I can tell many people the reason for my day off for fear of it being interpreted as taking advantage or being a slacker. The more of us that insist on caring for self, on reasonable balanced relationships between being a human and being an employee, the more of us might feel free to do the same. Thank you for this post.

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    1. It’s crazy but I even used to feel guilty for calling out when I was physically ill! I think mental health days even helped me to understand that no matter what part of your body it is, you just need a break sometimes and you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts!

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