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How to Ask for a Mental Health Day at Work
Request the time you need to rest and recover without getting into details
A few weeks ago, I felt — off. Not sick, exactly, but not like myself. I was unfocused. I was tired. I’d worked a series of six-day weeks, was drowning in emails, and couldn’t seem to muster up the motivation to do anything.
So I took a mental health day. I rewatched ’90s sitcoms. I caught up on my paperwork. I did errands I’d been putting off, like grocery shopping. And the next day, for the first time in weeks, I didn’t wake up feeling like I wanted to toss my laptop into the East River.
Mental health days are an increasingly accepted fact of modern work life — and are even becoming permissible for students in some school systems. It’s simply a day off to recuperate and recharge. The reason could be a diagnosable mental health condition such as anxiety or depression, but it could also be something more nebulous, like feeling stressed, exhausted, or burned-out.
I had it fairly easy: I’m a freelance writer, so I’m my own boss — and Boss Me decided that it was in my own best interest to cut Employee Me a break.
But for most workers, taking a day off requires someone else’s approval, and many — 55% in a recent…
