The Importance Of Mental Health Days

I kicked my day off with a bath bomb & a cuppa. I'm currently writing this on split screen with Dear John playing because I fancy a soppy movie this morning. I've usually done a bunch of things in work  by now & I'm waiting on a delivery to keep my busy till lunch. Today however I'm taking a mental health day. I need it & luckily my manager actually cares about his staff to offer me the day off.

After yet another breakdown this week I told Jacob that I feel I never have enough time to relax; that my weekends aren't long enough to let me let go of the week's stress. He replied that even when I have time I don't allow myself to relax. How simple is that reply? Very but it rings true; I can't always switch off. Between the worry that I'm not utilising my time to the notion of getting bored way too easily I just don't always really relax.

I guess I don't know how to let go completely; even now my "Good morning" text has just come through because Jacob knew I needed my sleep but I was up a few hours ago. Even my sleep pattern has been thrown off. I've hit a wall at the moment; my mental health isn't quite going so well & I'm debating if I need to seek help again. For now I've taken a mental health day & I'm letting myself "relax".

Now enough about me & time to discuss why aren't mental health days a thing? Why do we have to fight for a day just to regroup when there's people pulling sickies left right & centre. Yes we can just take a sick day but what about when we need more than one day & we can't just explain it away with a doctor's letter stating we have an illness? I know you can be signed off if things get bad & you need that time but that's not always an option. I'm not in the mental system right now so I can only imagine the time it would take to be signed off by a professional.

I understand that an employee hires its staff to work & it can be frustrating for staff to be off but these things happen. I also understand how easily abused mental health days could be. There's already a stigma around people will mental illness & we do not need that made worse. But doesn't it make sense to give people time to regroup & get their head back to where it needs to be?

I think we all need to take a mental health day once in a while, even if that means taking a sick day or booking time off. We all need to look after ourselves & let go off our crazy schedules. It's not a bad thing to take a day to do nothing. We aren't missing out & not everyday needs to be productive!! We have tonnes of days ahead of us to do those things so what harm is one day to ourselves?

Shelley xx




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