So it’s cold. It’s pouring outside. You’re wrapped up in a weighted blanket, and all you want to do is stay in bed all day. Perhaps, it’s a Sunday. No work. No school. No responsibilities. Just you in bed.
It’s the perfect day, especially if the bed feels like heaven with the new sheets you got from online bedding stores and the mattress you specifically picked out to feel like a cloud.
After dealing with life for the whole week, a break is necessary. People call it a “Mental Health Day” since it gives you time to relax, avoid stress, and do what you deem to be good for your headspace.
If your idea of a Mental Health Day is slowing down and staying in bed, this list is for you:
1. Read a novel
Reading fiction is a great way to escape reality for a little while. Above all, reading has so many benefits:
- It stimulates imagination, making readers more creative and open-minded.
- It lessens stress and helps you get away from everything you are currently thinking about.
- Reading improves analytical skills because, at the end of the story, you’re left to figure out why and how things in the story happened.
- It allows you to focus and concentrate on something for a long time.
2. Journal
Journaling is cool now. There are artsy people on the internet who show how they decorate their journals. You can tune into these tutorials and try to follow them to get in touch with your creative side.
If decorating isn’t your thing, journaling has a lot of benefits for stress management as well:
- Writing about daily events and what you feel is beneficial to trauma and stress confrontation. When you write about your day, you see it from a third-person point-of-view, and this gives you the chance to analyse your emotional responses.
- It reduces stress because it gives an avenue for self-expression.
- You can write without anyone judging you, and that’s a huge thorn off your chest.
3. Watch a movie or series
This is it. You might have set this aside the entire week because you simply didn’t have the time. Maybe there’s a new season of your favourite show that you’ve added to your “Watch Later” list. Maybe there’s a movie you’ve been reading good reviews about. It’s time to stay in bed and watch them all day.
The escapism brought by movies and series should be enough to de-stress you after a long week. It can even transport you to a whole different world to the point that you lose track of time.
It’s okay to slow down.
The “real world” conditions people to be on their feet and stay productive every waking day. This internalised sensation of finding one’s true life purpose in productivity should be changed little-by-little. Today’s emphasis on mental health helps people cope with the stress that they experience at work, in school, in the middle of traffic, even at home. If this is not enough to convince you to rest, it’s believed that a Mental Health Day helps you become productive the day after.
