Mental Health Day

First, a confession.
I don’t think of myself as a workaholic, but I probably work more than I should.
Some of that is because I feel responsible.
Some of that is I tend to be something of a perfectionist.
Some of that is that I want those around me and those I work for to be happy with me and with my work. 
All of that leads up to today.

For the first time in a couple of months I was able to take a mental health day.  
There was nothing on my calendar that could not be pushed back a day and nothing pressing in the office that I just had to do, so Sunday evening I drove up to Vermont to get away for a couple of days…and to ski.  When my children were young, we would take mental health days several times each winter.  I would take a day off work.  They would take a day off school.  And, we would go to one of the closer ski areas and ski for the day.  Back then, it was not so hard to do probably because I was doing it with my kids.

It was a bit harder for me the last couple of days.
While I thoroughly enjoyed skiing…
Blue sky.
Great snow.
No lines.
And, my first two days skiing this winter.
And, while I very much needed the day and a half away…
(I feel rested for the first time in several of weeks!)
One part of me kept telling the other part of me that I should be working;
That I should be busy.
I know that is something I need to learn about myself.
But, I also think it is not just me.
I think many around me, both young and old, have conditioned themselves to think that they must be busy all the time and when they are not something is wrong.
How many of us, I wonder, need a mental health day?
Maybe we all need to learn and to practice a more healthy way to live.