Long gone are the days when you must cough hard to fake a day off from work. Companies are starting to insert mental health days. These are days when you don’t have to have a long laundry list of excuses to use. The days you wake up and are not yourself and the struggle is more than real. Take them. If you do not have mental health days use your sick days.
Why Mental Health Days
I remember growing up and calling off work was taboo. You had to have a concreate reason to call off. I was taught to go to work sick and let the job send you home. Those days do not exist much. You must be wise with your time off. Although some jobs do require micromanaging of time some jobs especially since the Pandemic have learned to let adults manage their time. So, if you have a flexible job that allows you to be the adults that you are, use them well. If you are noticing that you are calling off because you do not like your job-we will address that. Use your time. Do not try to be martyr by working yourself to the ground. The job and you will be okay. Use your time.
Taking a break and stepping back even for a 24-hour period is necessary to refuel and recharge. There must be some parameters with using your mental health days.
Parameters of Mental Health Days
Why take off work just to be at a service to others when you need the time to rejuvenate? Learn to make sure that you take the time off to simply do nothing. This means, take the kids to school or daycare. I remember on my days off that I would feel guilty and leave the kids at home. You already know what happened. My day was filled with taking care of the kids and I was right where I started. FYI, daycare parents they are going to charge you anyway-so use the day. I took my mental health days and after drop-off slept. Yes, that rest I hadn’t gotten before I went back to sleep.
There were times I treated myself to a day of shopping where I finally did simple things like undergarment shopping or getting staple pieces for my wardrobe. I used the time to go to Ulta and get my self-care needs. Either way use the day for you. Take yourself on a date. The time will fly trust me but investing in you is key.
Hating your Job
Listen before you find the job or career of your dreams many of us prayed ourselves in the parking lot. I remember having to cry and ask God to help me find another job. That is exactly what you take the energy to do. Finding a job while working takes a little finesse as well as it is its own job. So, thank the lord you have a job and make magic. This means putting in several resumes. It’s all a numbers game. Plan interviews on days off. I would put at least 2-3 interviews on the same day. This would help me to not have to take time off. So many times. Bosses play a huge role in leaving. Often, they are the key to retention. However, since they act untouchable it’s time to proceed to excellence without them.
Don’t feel stuck. Let the current job finance you to the new job or career. I worked a third shift while blogging and another first shift job so I could bank. When the first shift job was doing the most, I quit that one and leaned into the 3r shift to help finance and bank a savings to have for the blog until I could make that the main. It’s all about working hard and knowing that you are never stuck. Stuck is a way of thinking. Change the parameters and open the reality of moving with finesse.
No matter what you need the mental health day for-take it. You are deserving of taking some time off. Use your vacation. That job will only end up having to pay you out if you leave. Working hard doesn’t mean you work yourself out of a healthy situation. Work smarter not harder. A break is just that-time away to step away. After every break I always came back ready to do more. Our bodies aren’t made to run on E.
It’s like you’ve handed us a permission slip to take care of ourselves without the guilt trip. I love the shift from the old ‘cough-and-call-in-sick’ routine to actually using days off to recharge the batteries. It’s like giving your brain a spa day! And that part about using a current job to finance your way to a new one? That’s some 4D chess right there. It’s a great reminder that we’re not trees; if we don’t like where we are, we can move. Or in job terms, send out those resumes and ace those interviews! Cheers to working smart, not just hard, and to putting our mental health on the priority list.
You hit it right on the nose and yes we have to invest in ourselves first always