Taking a mental health day off is the best decision when you are stressed and burned out. Moreover, spending the day with self-care activities reset your mind and makes you feel relieved.

I am a remote worker. I work in various fields simultaneously, and thus, my mind is always busy tracking my work progress. Although I consciously choose every Sunday as my holiday, sometimes my work requirements make me skip my single holiday of the week.

However, in this situation, I try to take a day off in midweek. I aim for taking a mental health day on Wednesday and spend the day doing my favorite self-care activities.

Let me tell you a secret. I am a workaholic, yet, I love this habit of taking a day off from my work. Because this way, I feel fresh and alive after a hectic schedule.

Before I share my experience with mental health detox day, here is all about a mental health day and why you must grow this habit.

What is a Mental Health Day:

Although you can make any day your mental health day. However, taking a day off from your work is an ideal day when you prioritize your mental well-being more than your work.

Therefore, a mental health day is the day when you take a day off from your work and decide to spend the day relaxing. This day is like a quick holiday in between your stressful job or work schedule.

Moreover, you aim at doing some relaxing activities as a means of your self-care practice. Thus, taking a day off as a form of your mental health day is the best thing to do when your stress level reaches to its peak.

Benefits of Taking a Mental Health Day:

While choosing your holiday in the midweek or the weekend, you must know that one day of rest might not improve your overall well-being. However, that one day will certainly help you feel relived and refresh your mind.

As you minimize your commitments and cut-off interactions or responsibilities, it makes you feel de-stressed. In addition, you consciously choose to focus on your well-being so you feel better after having hectic work schedules.

On the other hand, if you are a homemaker, a parent, a spouse, a friend, or a caregiver, it is equally helpful for you. Whatever may be the role you are playing in your life, repeating the same routine becomes monotonous at a point.

This is when your mind starts sending the signal to you that you must pause so you can take a breather.

Here are the benefits of your mental health day:

• It helps you prevent burnout
• You can manage your stress level
• It gives your mind rest
• You can slow down
• You get back to work with a greater energy level
• It improves your sleep routine
• You have a fun time with your dear ones
• It gives you time to pursue your hobby or passion

Simple Ways to Take a Day Off for Self-care:

When I take a mental health day in the midweek or weekend, I make sure to practice some simple self-care activities. If I am consciously choosing one day off from my work or daily routine, why not perform self-care and allow myself to practice self-love?

So, here are my favorite self-care activities that I include on my mental health day. These activities are simple and easy so you can try them too.

Unplug:

The first thing I do after waking up in the morning is set a goal for a digital detox. Therefore, I fix a duration of 2-3 hours to spend time with gadgets and digital media for the whole day. In addition, I make sure to spend more time offline than plugging in online mode. It helps me practice other self-care activities with better attention.

Reading:

The day I take off from my work, including a dedicated time of 3-4 reading hours is a must. I choose a book from my bookshelf or my Kindle eBook library and start reading. Sometimes, I finish reading the book’s half part or three-fourths part in a single day.

Similarly, often I read multiple books or magazines on my mental health day. Reading different genres of books helps me gather more knowledge and makes the reading ritual more interesting.

Creativity:

When I am taking a day off, my parents know that day is going to be a musical day. Most hours of the morning, I spend with music. Either I sit for my riyaz, or I learn a new song, or I sing my previously learned songs. If my mood doesn’t allow me to sing, who cares? I turn on the speaker and play my favorite songs.

Thus, spending time with my hobby and pursuing my creative side gives me happiness. As a result, it significantly reduces my stress.

Cooking:

On my mental health day, I prepare my breakfast. Following my dietician’s instructions, I prepare a wholesome breakfast. Most of the time, I do it with sprouts and salads. Eating healthy food instantly uplifts my mood.

Sometimes, I try a new dish that I learned from YouTube (mostly from the Master Chefs Ranveer Brar and Kunal Kapoor). Similarly, sometimes I try to add a twist to a recipe and then offer my mom to taste the new flavor.

So, it also helps me explore my creative spirit and gives me a sense of accomplishment when Mom welcomes the new flavor with her bright smile.

Walking:

I walk regularly. The evening walk is added to my daily routine but sometimes I skip this habit because of my pending work. I feel anxious to finish the to-do-list tasks and thus, I prefer to work than walk.

However, mental health day must be different from the usual daily schedule. Therefore, I make sure to be ready and go for a long walk in my neighborhood streets.

On a usual day, I walk for thirty minutes. But on the day when I take off, my evening walk duration extends from forty-five minutes to one hour. It gives me the boost to restart working on the next day with a fresh perspective.

Meditation:

The same goes for my meditation ritual. I sit for meditation on a daily basis. Usually, my meditation ritual is for thirty minutes and for a mental health day, it is extended to one hour.

This is because I pray and chant before or after my meditation and thus, my duration in the temple of the house also extends. After the long ritual of praying, chanting, and meditating, I feel rejuvenated.

Niksen:

When I take a day off, I include Niksen in my self-care routine. For me, doing nothing is another form of practicing mindfulness in my daily life.

Therefore, I go for a short nap after having my lunch and wake up in the afternoon to watch nature. I make a cup of green tea and come to sit beside the balcony window to enjoy my tea time.

Sometimes, neighborhood kids play on the street and I watch their joyful cheers. Other times, I quietly watch the tiny birds that sit and dance on the branches of the trees in our garden.

Sometimes, I observe the fresh blooms of our garden and appreciate their beauty. Other times, I observe the soil of the garden, the changes in its texture, and the colors and shapes of the grass fields.

Sometimes, I watch the sky and the floating clouds. Other times, I lazily spend time by simply doing nothing, enjoying every sip of my green tea and closing my eyes to feel calm within.

Hair Massage:

On my mental health day, it is a must-have ritual to oil my hair and massage my head. As soon as I open the hair oil bottle, the aroma of the organic oil freshens up my tiered cells of mind.

Next, I pour some drops of the hair oil on my hand, mix it with the other, and start rolling my fingers inside my hair. Ahh, what a relieving moment it is!

The more I press my head with my fingertips, the more I feel relaxed. The comfort of the hair massage sometimes even makes me feel sleepy. Hence, it helps me have a good night’s sleep.

Journaling:

I do journaling regularly. But, on a mental health day, I write about the self-care activities I did and how I felt after each activity.

Surprisingly, this habit helps me practice gratitude and self-love as I discover some beautiful reminders of life during the process. This is the last self-care activity I perform at the day’s end when I recollect the good things that happened today.

Areas to Focus:

There are some vital areas to focus on while you are taking a day off. If you are going to have a self-care day or a mental health day, it is necessary to include activities that offer you positivity.

Therefore, you must focus on your sleep routine, diet charts, and movement practices. Involve the activities that offer you positive vibes. As a result, you can get back to work with a relieved mind and fresh perspective.

Areas to Avoid:

When you have the areas to focus on for your self-care rituals, similarly, it is necessary to set boundaries for your peace of mind. After all, it is your mental health day and that’s why, you must stay away from negativity as much as possible.

Here are the areas you must avoid:

• Overthinking
• Social Media
• Toxic People
• Negative self-talk
• Overeating or eating spicy foods
• Substance consumption
• Anxiety about the future
• Mourning over the past

The Bottom Line:

Different stressors act on your mind. Therefore, taking a day off works differently for your mental and emotional well-being.

However, if you are feeling stressed from your continuous work pressure, it is beneficial to opt for a day off and unplug yourself from the stressful routines. It also helps you prevent burnout situations before your stress level reaches its extreme and affects your physical health.

After all, focusing on your mental health regularly is way better than taking an emergency mental health day from your work. Therefore, take care of your mental well-being and make it your top priority in life.

(This post is a part of Blogchatter Blog Hop and written as a response to the prompt of ‘Your Ideal Way to Take a Day Off’. This post is also a part of Cause A Chatter campaign by Blogchatter.)