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How to Take An Effective Mental Health Day
Let’s take a day.
First of all, imagine taking the WHOLE DAY. It blows your mind right? Feels impossible? What if we tried it? Here are the components of an effective mental health day. Which ones have you already tried?
Start with a morning routine.
What do you need for the perfect morning? Some may want to sleep in, others may need to wake up early while it’s still and calm. What makes this day effective is that you get to decide.
Next, engage in a relaxing morning routine. Need ideas? Try out a couple here.
Assess what you need for a mental health day versus what you want.
The trick is to assess what will recharge you rather than just help you shut off. Think of it like charging your phone. We need to recharge the phone and also turn it off and back on again. Very different! The trick to an effective mental health day is to do both!
Things that shut us off: Watching television, scrolling through social media, drinking, playing video games.
Things that recharge us: being outdoors, cooking, reading, listening to podcasts, journaling, personal introspection, using face masks.
Need more ideas? Try here!
If what you want to do is sit in bed, binge eat Cheetos, and drink wine all day, that might not be the most helpful. Which leads us to our next point.
Sometimes self-care is doing all the fun and relaxing things, however self-care is also doing the things that we need.
It’s all about balance. Self-care can be hiking, lounging, and getting take-out. It can also be folding laundry, setting up a savings account, or picking up groceries.
Here are the questions to ask yourself to create a balanced day of wants and needs:
What are the things that I’m stressing about today that could be handled quickly? Only pick a couple and make a list of the to-do’s to get done the next day.
Do I recharge when I’m with friends or on my own?
If I choose to relax with friends, can I be sure they will pour into my life or will they exhaust me?
What are the things I normally avoid? Quiet time? Chores? Fun? Do I avoid them because they are bad for me (we do avoid things that are hurtful to us, like toxic family) or because they are good for me but I do not believe I deserve good things, especially when they require work.
What do I want to feel by the end of the day? What can I do that will ensure that feeling?
What bad choices could I make today that I need to be careful of? I.e. excessive drinking, excessive eating, gambling, overspending. How do I safeguard from reverting to any of these options?
Pick at least one thing that would help recharge the five senses. The five senses are a great way to reduce anxiety and stay grounded. Need some ideas for self-care around the five senses? You can grab that here!
Make sure your mental health day is covering all your bases.
The best ways to integrate self-care into all aspects of your life is to look at these different categories: contextual, spiritual, physical activity, intellectual, nutrition, sensual, emotions, and relationships. Is there any category that is lacking? Spend more time there! Need ideas per category? Here ya go!
Plan out your day but solidify it in grace.
Mix between a few things you need to get done for your self-care and some fun ones. The schedule will help maintain accountability, yet should not be held too firmly. This day is meant to be relaxing, not a disappointment if every task was not met. Self-compassion is the whole point of the day.
Don’t forget that mental health is all in the mind.
Lastly, while self-introspection is listed as an option for this day, it’s really a necessity for mental health. Sometimes, when we take time to mentally process, it can easily spiral into negativity. That’s not helpful for a successful mental health day unless you have the tools to process it fully. A good way to stay positive and internally engaged is to spend time in gratitude!