Listen to yourself and take that mental health day

Happy Saturday!

Readers! I realize this post is a day late. I'll get to why that it is in a little bit. Hopefully you all had a good week, or if you had a bad one, I hope you could find something good in each day. Someone (the name escapes me, as I write this) once said, "Every day might not be good, but there's good in every day." Probably messed that up, but you get what I mean. 

Okay. Why this post is a day late: it is spring break for me; I worked 33 hours this week which is more than I usually work in a week; I went to go see my sister and her boyfriend after I got off work yesterday. On Facebook, I see people posting pictures of spending their break down in the southern states or out of the country. Truly I am happy for them because if that's how they want to spend their break, then go them! I, on the other hand, started my break by spending time with family (and four-wheeling!) and playing Cribbage with my parents and grandma, then coming back to school to work because the car repairs can't be paid with smiles (although I wish it could; that would be so easy!), and I topped off my break by spending the night in with my sister and her boyfriend. Was it perfect? Maybe not, but it was ideal for me. 

My most recent Odyssey article link: Not Everyone Grew Up the Way You Did.

My mentor, Ma (Marcia) Powell, has been and continues to be a blessing in my life. She's taught me a lot and helped me understand my anxiety and OCD-like tendencies, which in turn aided my thinking and how it needs to change and adapt to overcome those struggles. She's my rock when I'm in all-out freaking out mode and I need to be calmed down. One of the important things she's taught me: take mental health days, when you need them, not when you can find the time in your busy schedule.   

You might be asking, "what in the world are 'mental health days'??" Please remember that my definition is different from someone else's. To me, they are the days we take for ourselves when we are so overwhelmed and exhausted or feel as if we are running on auto-pilot, and we need a day (or two) to recharge our brains and to give our mental health a chance to catch up. 

Here's another way to look at it. Say you fall and break your leg; what do you do? Common sense tells you to go to the doctor for a cast and so you do. There, your leg can heal. But what do you do when your mental health needs a little T.L.C. (tender, loving care)? Mental health can mean a variety of things: whether you feel like yourself or not, or suddenly you feel so weighed down that you feel like you can't breathe. A doctor can't wrap your head and it would be better. Sure, if it works, you can go see a therapist or counselor to help you decompress ('decompose'...Rachel and Cody should appreciate that) and sort yourself out. 

How we spend those days are important and unique to you and your particular needs, but what's just as important is knowing when you need to take one and understanding  and being okay that it usually never fits perfectly into your schedule. Sometimes we need to get away and escape and recharge. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health is. We, as a society, have a tendency to overlook or ignore our mental health and its need to be taken care of. Why? A couple of likely reasons are that we can't see it like we can see a broken leg needs a cast and we don't know how to best treat our mental health when it's broke.

Until next week,

Thought of the day