Dear Patrice,
“My weekends are simply not enough time off. I need more personal time to focus just on me. What is an easy thing that I can do to recharge and reboot?”
Answer: Take a mental health day to check out and recharge by calling in sick. Here are seven (7) humorous and important reasons why you desperately need a mental health day.
1. Sunday-itis: The non-medical term for that sick feeling in your stomach you get every Sunday when you remember Monday (and work) are both less than 24 hours away.
2. You can’t afford the vacay you deserve: Half of the office is gone or getting ready to take off this summer. Don’t you deserve one tiny-winnie stay-cation?
3. Potential unruly hair day: You lost your umbrella and today’s forecast calls for clouds and heavy rain. Enough said!
4. You’re hearing voices: Your boss and co-workers’ voices have driven you so crazy that nails on a chalk board would be better than listening to them.
5. You really don’t like your job: You dislike most of your co-workers and/or your job and you need to spend time (and your mental health day) with people you actually like.
6. You NEVER call in sick: 80% of your co-workers seem to call in sick every other week. You should be able to do it for just one day – they owe you!
7. You deserve a break: Embrace this former McDonalds ad slogan and give yourself a much-deserved mental break.
Hopefully you can take your mental health day tomorrow. If not, check your personal to-do list and schedule it for this week. You are not the first and won’t be the last person to one day realize that calling in sick to take a mental health day is a necessary part of doing any job successfully.