How to Take An Effective Mental Health Day
This one is for all my clients, colleagues and friends who are in a “do-loop”
A do-loop is a programming structure that repeats until…well…theoretically it could go on repeating forever. And I don’t know about you, but COVID and what may be post-COVID life (don’t want to get too optimistic with the labels yet!) have the character of a do-loop. Get up, log in, work, eat when necessary, try to exercise regularly, relax, sleep, and repeat. We’re not yet back to a time of spontaneity, easy travel, and serendipity. And that’s ok - this is a global crisis, something that hasn’t happened in generations, and there definitely was no playbook for this. So, for the past 18 months we have adapted as best as we can, and I suspect that will continue for a while yet.
But if we move our focus back down to the micro, to ourselves individually, many of us can see the wear and tear, the cost this has had on us. It may be a certain dulling of your senses; an inability to find true pleasure. It may be a feeling of pulling yourself through the days, weeks, months; going through the motions of living without real engagement. It may be losing your time in streaming, podcasts, the random internet. It may be eating the same thing most days because you can’t be bothered to change it up.
Humans are amazingly adaptive creatures. And to an extent, we adapted to lockdowns, not seeing loved ones, and restrictions. There is a comfort, especially for introverts, in just being able to stay home. But at this point, comfort has, for many, turned into stagnation. Enter the Mental Health Day.
A Mental Health Day (aka a Duvet Day) is a day you take off expressly to rebalance yourself. A Mental Health Day won’t solve all your woes. But what it will do is interrupt the “Do-Loop”. If you work from home, it’s an opportunity perhaps to walk around your area during a time when you wouldn’t normally. You can take advantage of the fact everyone’s at work to enjoy emptier local coffee shops. Sit down somewhere and simply stop doing. It might feel a bit itchy; you might be tempted to tackle your long to-do list. But persist - even if just for an hour. This is your day - it’s a day you chose as a reset and the day you start to remember how to Be. It’s about experience, noticing, and savouring. The point is - seek out things that are different, and be expressly kind to yourself.
The other thing I’d add to the perfect Mental Health Day recipe is getting creative. Which can be spending time on a hobby, exploring something new like learning an instrument, deliberately taking photographs of your surroundings, writing in a journal, grabbing some crayons, pastels, or paints, and making something. This isn’t about quality - it’s about literally or metaphorically making a mark - doing something which is an expression of where you’re at at the moment -body, feelings and mind. Take your time and remember, it can be light and silly just as easily as being dark and serious.
Finally, an hour or so before you head to bed, set aside 15 minutes to think through what tomorrow (back to normal) will feel like, and what you could do to change it up a bit. Maybe it’s starting a bit earlier to make more of the daylight in the evening. Maybe it’s 10 pushups every time you take a break. Maybe it’s adding a few lines to the picture you drew, or running through a song on your previously-dusty guitar. There will be something - perhaps small and subtle or maybe bigger, beefier, that you have experienced today that you can bring to your tomorrows.
Break the Do-Loop and start Being/
