How to Take An Effective Mental Health Day

How to take an effective mental health day…

That can be a hard question to answer for some people. How do you shut it all off and shut down? Do you need to shut it all off and shut down? What tools do you need in place to be able to have a mental health day that is effective for you? What does effective mean to you?

These questions came up when I wondered past “Vacation in Place” a Hulu TV Series which is under the Travel, Lifestyle and Culture tags. The premise is for one to have a “mini vacay in place”, a retreat when you cannot get away to the Sequoia National Park and walk around yourself. While it was stimulating to watch someone else walk through and film what they felt was relaxing it made me think about what a real effective mental health day could look like?

I would like you to think of your effective mental health day two ways, as either subjective or objective.

Subjective: Opinion, and emotions.

Objective: Measurable and goal related.

Breaking down your mental health day into a measurable goal that is attainable can be beneficial for some. With questions like:

• Who is responsible for my mental health day? You, Family, Co-workers, Partners, Friends…

• What do I need to help make my mental health day? Money, time off, babysitter, sleep, snacks, books

How will I know it was effective? This one question can be key in your goal.

Will you know it was effective because you are relaxed, you finished the book you wanted to read, you shut down early and had dinner ready on time, you went for an amazing walk in Lake Tahoe and filmed it for Hulu.

Taking an effective mental health day can be based on your opinions of what feels good for you, not necessarily what others feel you should be doing. If tuning into your computer as you type a paper and watch someone else hiking makes you feel good, then it was an effective mental health day for you.

If you have trouble processing an effective mental health day, a therapist can help you make SMART Goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound. In therapy you can process emotions and work on building your strategy for a mental health day that truly puts you on track to a healthy wellbeing.

This information is not intended to diagnose health problems or take the place of medical advice or take the place of care you receive from your health care professional.