Making Mental Health Days Meaningful: Ideas from a Therapist
Why are mental health days important?
Mental health days are an intentional pause. In a culture that celebrates productivity, they offer a way to tend to our inner lives—to notice, feel, and recalibrate. For many of us, especially those in high-pressure environments, they act as a boundary—a gentle refusal to override our emotional or physical needs. Just as we wouldn’t walk on a sprained ankle, we shouldn't expect our minds to function optimally under constant strain. Taking a mental health day can be a quiet act of self-respect.
Why might unplugging from your phone and laptop be beneficial on a mental health day?
Our devices keep us tethered to the demands of others: inboxes, news cycles, expectations. Unplugging, even briefly, allows us to reclaim our attention. Putting the phone down can feel strange at first—like something’s missing. But often, what’s missing is space. Space to think your own thoughts. Space to feel bored. Space to notice what your body or mind might be telling you. If a full day off-grid isn’t realistic, try windows of time where your phone goes off—maybe over breakfast and again in the hour before bed.
Nature has a way of returning us to ourselves—but not in the usual, inward-looking way. It invites us to feel small, and paradoxically, that can be a relief. When our inboxes or relationships or thoughts feel enormous, the sky doesn’t flinch. The trees carry on. We remember we’re part of something much bigger. Everything is connected. Even twenty minutes in the park, or looking up at the sky, can shift perspective. You don’t need a remote forest; I love to spend time in Alexander Park in Moss Side in Manchester, watching the birds, and noticing the change in the seasons. The key isn’t scale—it’s surrender.
Why might spending time in nature be beneficial on a mental health day?
Self-care has become a bit of a buzzword—often reduced to bubble baths and scented candles. And while those things can be comforting, they’re not the whole story. Real self-care is relational. It’s about how we show up for ourselves when things are hard. Not fixing or glossing over pain, but gently asking: What do I need right now?
Sometimes it’s cancelling plans, lying down, or giving ourselves permission to not be productive. The point isn’t pampering—it’s tending. A face mask won’t solve a crisis, but asking ourselves what kind of care we need might soften the edges of it.
Why might indulging in self-care be beneficial for mental health?
Creativity can help us make sense of what we’re feeling—without needing to explain it, which can be very helpful for the overthinkers among us. It gets us out of problem-solving mode and into something more playful, more free. You don’t need to be good at it. Doodle, bake, move things around. Have a potter. The point isn’t the outcome—it’s the space it creates.
Why might doing something creative be beneficial on a mental health day?
When we’re overwhelmed or under pressure, our nervous system often flips into fight, flight, or freeze. In modern life, there’s rarely a clear outlet for those responses—they get stuck. Movement helps the body release what the mind can’t always process. For me, it’s boxing. I have a trauma history, and the repetition, the rhythm, the power—it gives shape to feelings that don’t always have words, and it helps regulate.
But it doesn’t have to be intense. A walk, stretching, a song you move to in your kitchen—whatever helps you reconnect to your body in a way that feels safe. Especially for those of us with trauma histories, that sense of agency matters.
Why is it beneficial to exercise on a mental health day?
Why is it beneficial to exercise on a mental health day?
Sometimes I suggest a “permission slip” day. A day with no goals, no fixing, no pressure to be productive. Just rest. Watch something comforting, stare out the window, wander with no destination. It’s a quiet way of saying: I’m allowed to just be. That’s enough.