Growing up, I remember the burst of excitement I would always get waking up to snow, rushing to the TV, and waiting to see if my school was on the list of school closings (kids today with their cell phones and notifications will never know such anticipation). A snow day. For grown-ups, it was a day to clear the snow. For kids, it was a day to play in the snow. And now, as an adult sometimes I find myself needing mental snow days.
Mental snow days, aka mental health days, aren’t just vacation. They are an important time to recharge. If you think about a snow day as being a day to clear out accumulated snow, mental health days are days to clear out the accumulated negative thoughts and mental snow that are building up, fogging your brain and making it hard to enjoy your everyday activities.
And sure, part of this post’s theme might have been the result of writer’s block combined with the blizzard brewing outside my office window. Yet that doesn’t make it any less valid.
Failing to clear the roads and the driveways of your snow will leave you trapped and isolated from the outside world. It will make traveling treacherous, possibly leaving you slipping and sliding on the snow and ice. But not taking mental snow days could be just as challenging, could leave you feeling just as isolated, and, you guessed it, could have you falling on your ass. Metaphorically speaking.
So if your mental snowstorms have been piling things up inside your head, take a mental snow day to clear away the snow and ice. But don’t forget the kid inside you who wants to use snow days for a bit of play as well.
The Dark Tales Project 