It seems almost selfish to take an entire day out of the year and dedicate it to self care. I did so today, unintentionally. I din’t even realize I needed a mental health day until just now and I had done everything right in helping my mental health needs.

I spent the night at Diego’s. This time there was no anger on my end when he chose to smoke. He left at 5am this morning to go to work. I left at 6am because Poncho was sleeping way too close to my head for comfort. I got a Dutch Bros Rebel and was on my way home.

Once I was home, I had breakfast and then fell asleep until dinner time. It wasn’t how I wanted to spend today, but it’s what my body needed and for that, I am much grateful for the opportunity to be able to sleep in and recover.

I tend to forget my body just went through invasive foot and leg surgery and that I need rest to recover from it.

After having dinner, I slept in til 8pm. After another much needed nap, I decided to do some intentional self care. I took the selfie pictured above after doing my skincare routine. I put on different scrubs and lotions and as much as it hurts to be on my feet (when I am not supposed to) I needed to do this for me, it’s been something I have been neglecting to do since I had surgery. It feels good to have a clean face. I even brushed my teeth while I was doing the skincare routine so that feels good too.

It never feels like you do a lot when you have a mental health care day or self care day, but that is because our mindsets are that of we need to use our minds or our bodies to have a productive day. But how does that mindset account for our emotions? By calming and soothing our bodies, adjusting our emotions and having a real mental or emotional outlet, we have a way of accounting for our emotions and our feelings.

We need to change the narrative that mental and physical work is the only way to be productive. Emotional work is the most pivotal work that we need to do for ourselves as we meet societal standards and expectations. If we aren’t emotionally equipped to go to work, go to school, go to the grocery store, or go to the doctor, we are not emotionally equipped to handle everyday life which is hazardous to our own well being.

Self care is fundamental part of emotional care so we feel prepared to meet the day and its expectations. When we cannot meet the expectations of our work or school, we, as a society, need to normalize mental health days, which should be as common or similar to that of sick days. Burn out is real and depending on the severity of your job, it can be deadly.

A gentle reminder to all of you to keep fighting the good fight. Keep kicking butt at work, school, wherever you are at and remember to prioritize your mental health because YOU MATTER!

Much love,

Dani