MHD

It's been a while since I last checked in to this blog... over a month and a half, to be exact. It's been a busy 1.5 months though, so I'm glad I was focused on my work. Now, though, the summer is here and things have died down for a bit. In my field - at this institution, at least - summer is a time for catch up, cleaning, planning, and generally ramping up for the next "year" (September-June). However, before I could get planning and ramping and amping myself up, I needed a little downtime. I organized and cleaned, I did a few personal things, I got to some things I'd put off, and then..... I got bored..... and restless..... and annoyed that I had nothing to do..... and then I started to feel under the weather and sad and depressed.....

So you know what I did??? Yesterday I took a day off. It was a sick day because I wasn't feeling too well, but it was also a mental health day. We need those. Our mental health is as important as our physical health, but too easily and too often it gets neglected. If you need a day off for the sake of your mental and/or physical health and it's an okay week to do so (a.k.a. you'll be less stressed and not more stressed by a day off), then go and do it!

Thanks to my MHD, today I feel rested, happy, energetic, and ready to get back to work full-force. Today I've been productive, gotten some projects done, organized my office and inbox, and generally have contributed to my workplace. Now if that wasn't worth taking a day off, then what is?