Mental Health

Who knows where it started, but the concept of a "mental health day" has served my overall mental health extremely well.  I confessed my tendency to over-commit previously, so having a day where I do nothing but things that are replenishing for me is a godsend.  It was not a convenient time to take a day off work but rarely is there an ideal time to be gone from the office.Yesterday I gave myself the opportunity to just sit and sleep and stare into space.  There was also time for lunch with the hubs, a movie with girlfriends and ended the day on a blanket watching Zoolander under the stars with friends. 

These are activities I could do in the span of any given weekend but the day provided space for me to rest, physically, mentally and spiritually.  I didn't just take a day off from work, I also took a day off from me. From running around town like a crazy person trying do everything and see everyone and be everywhere all at once.  I took a day of from stressing over how in the world we were going to afford a house and the turned off the worry about becoming house-obsessed people. I took the day off from trying to anticipate and control every, single, micro detail of each minute of the day.

It does not happen a lot but for the majority of the day, I felt still. Not just that I was sitting still, but that my mind was still and the worries of my heart were still. And that is what I call a successful mental health day.

Today when I woke up my mind was going 100 miles an hour, I eventually had to get up and make the mental to-do list less overwhelming by actually sending that email, emptying that box in the media room, and taking the sausage out of the freezer for breakfast.  Of course each of those tasks lead to another task and so went the morning, that's my life but the stillness was good while it lasted.