After having a work-related, stress-induced mini-meltown the night before, you wake up, determined to take a mental health day. After shooting your boss a quick email about not feeling well, you smile. The day is yours to do with it what you want! Initially, there's a feeling of sweet relief - you don't have to deal with the long-ass commute, the growing mountain of paperwork on your desk or your annoying co-worker (who is a close-talker and always seems to have garlic breath). But then it dawns on you...you have no idea what to do with your time.
Hmmm....it's been a while since you played with your belly button...
There's the mature, responsible side of you that says you should go to the post office and send your friend her birthday gift (it's only 3 months late), take your car to get washed, pick up some groceries, and do a load of laundry. (Just writing all that made me put my head down to take a nap.) The other side, the take-advantage-of-this-free-time-because-you-really-need-a-break-before-you-kill-someone-accidentally-on-purpose-and-they-make-a-Lifetime-movie-about-it-side, tells the mature side (f*cking Beverly!) to shut up and that you are going to do whatever the hell you want to do. It's your day, damnit!
Unfortunately, how many of us choose to spend our coveted time-off taking care of business? Do you often set an agenda for your free time? Many of us subscribe whole-heartedly to the American way of being efficient and productive. I am definitely guilty; I often map my day according to what will allow me to get the most done. (Don't judge me, gas is hella expensive!) However, time is also our most precious gift. We sometimes forget that sharing it with someone else is a reward in itself. Or spending it doing the things we love, not the things we're obligated to do, is truly one of the best ways to use it. We get so bogged down in how we should be spending our time, we forget to use it to live the life we want.
So, now that you've cursed out Beverly and told her to sit down somewhere, you get to do what you want on this mental health day. What are you going to do? Maybe you spend the whole day watching reruns of the Cosby Show. Maybe you ride your bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. Maybe you continue your search for the perfect pet rock. Maybe you learn how to cha cha. It doesn't matter, it's your time. If doing what you want means putting on some tennis shoes and running like a gazelle, do it. If you come across a man with a drum and you want to beat on his drum too, do it. If you want to work on your macaroni necklace collection, do it. Whatever it is, make sure it's something you want to do; your place in heaven is no more guaranteed just because you cleaned out your closet (although I hear bribery works). Tomorrow, you'll be back at work, obligated to deal with Garlic Breath and Paperwork Mountain; there will be no one to blame but yourself if you've wasted your opportunity to actually take a break.
Those macaroni necklaces aren't going to make themselves!
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