A Mental Health Day

26/05/2016. Today, I gave myself a mental health day.

I think most people associate ‘mental health days’ with looking after yourself — allowing yourself to unwind and de-stress. 

But today, I chose to spend the entire day feeling miserable.

And yes — you read that right. Today, I chose to feel sad. And you know what?

It was great.

In my day-to-day life, I try my best to actively shut out negative thoughts. I find that, in general, this helps me to live a more positive and healthy life. 

But sometimes, these thoughts creep their way into my brain and refuse to budge. And sometimes, it's important that I acknowledge those thoughts. Because, if I don't, they're just going to build up and up and up until I feel like I'm going to explode... and that's not healthy.
 

Today, I allowed myself to feel sad. I allowed all of those miserable thoughts to come flooding out, so that they would stop banging on that little door in my brain demanding that I pay attention.

I lay in my bed and I cried. I thought about all of the things that were bothering me. I wrote about them in a diary*. I even let myself briefly wallow in a spot of self-pity.

 *A significantly better option than emotionally-tweeting, I should add.

Today, I allowed myself to feel what I was feeling. I gave validation to my sadness (...which, after all, is an emotion as real as any other). And by doing this, I was able to get it all out... and now, hopefully, I can move on. 

Yes, self-care is incredibly important — but for me, today’s experience was just as valuable as taking a relaxing bath, cuddling with my cat, or watching an uplifting movie on Netflix. 

Striving for happiness is great, and it’s something that I work toward every day. But you know what? Sometimes, allowing yourself to feel sad is important, too.

Love, 

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