How To Take a Mental Break

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This post is all about how to take a mental break.

I’m not going to lie: it could be my semi type-A personality, my need for perfection, or just my overall anxious nature, but I regularly feel like I could use a mental break

It’s almost like there’s some kind of self-moderating portion of my brain that around every 6 months starts screaming out to me (starting as a faint whisper) “hey, girl, it’s about time you take a little mental health break.”

And when I say take a break, I mean from the things that stress me out most in life. Things that put pressure on me or have a negative impact on my mental health overall.

This break doesn’t mean ditching all your responsibilities and going away on vacation. In fact, some of the best and most effective mental health breaks are taken right there in the comfort of your own home.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be nice to escape everyone and everything for a short while, but once you get back to your everyday life, nothing will have changed.

Instead, a mental health break is most successful when you’re able to implement a lot of the techniques long after going back to your everyday life.

When it comes to my credentials, I’d like to say I’m kind of a pro at the ins and outs of taking mental breaks. Between living with generalized anxiety disorder for around a decade now and struggling with a health condition that damn near sent me over the edge, I’ve become accustomed to taking breaks as needed.

How to Take a Mental Break

1. Tell your family and friends (on a need-to-know basis)

When you get to the point that you’re feeling so overwhelmed enough that you need to take a mental break, the first step is letting those closest to you know.

For one, if you don’t, they may be confused as to why you’re switching gears. Another reason is so that those close to you can offer support and do what they can to lighten your mental load.

Now, you obviously don’t need to scream it from the rooftops or announce it to everyone, but for those close to you, it would be both helpful and beneficial to fill them in.

2. Social media cleanse

I stand firm on the belief that the single best thing you can do for improved mental health is take a break from any and all social media.

I don’t need to sit here and explain the damaging effects prolonged social media use has on your over time such as comparison, self-doubt, etc. Honestly, I think by this point it’s a well known fact that these little rectangular boxes we carry around dictating our entire lives need to be moderated.

Instead, I want to point out the perks to your mental health when social media is cut out of your life.

Perks of a social media cleanse

You will no longer be weighed down by the pressure of posting the prettiest pictures, the wittiest quotes, funniest memes, or oversharing aspects of your life with acquaintances that most likely wouldn’t even say a word to you if they saw you in public.

I mean quite literally, at the start of a mental health break I delete my social media and feel like a weight is being lifted off my shoulders.

When you rid yourself of social media and all the negative that comes with it, your mental health starts to soar. You will notice you’re being more productive because your not spending hours of your day enslaved. Or you will actually start soaking up special moments with your children or significant others.

Can’t I just limit the amount of time I spend on social media?

You might be thinking “why don’t you just put limitations on yourself and only be on social media for x amount of time each day?”

My response is this: ya right!

I’ve been down that road with failed attempts that made me feel worse about myself. But hey, if you are that self disciplined and can manage to do that for yourself long term then props to you and by all means just do that.

So for a truly effective mental health break, go full Houdini on social media.

Some people just delete the apps from their phone but if your mental break is going to be longer than a couple of days it might be best to just deactivate your account altogether so you don’t get anxiety about people thinking you are ignoring their messages, comments, etc.

3. Do more of what you love

So what do you do with all this extra time on your hands during your mental health break?

It’s pretty simple.

You could read to get lost in a fantasy or educate yourself. You might listen to podcasts on a topic you are interested in. How about start that new hobby you’ve always wanted to try? If cleaning is your thing, you could get super organized and deep clean your home.

Whatever it is that you do, make sure it’s something you’re doing for you and is something you truly enjoy.

4. Eat enough and eat healthy

Nine times out of ten, when my mental health starts declining, my nutrition is partially to blame.

It’s usually after many days or weeks of getting super busy and forgetting to eat, or eating a ton of fast food. When I do skip meals, by that time hunger actually sets in I’m starving, cranky and anxious. Which is a terrible combo to have all at once.

I think a successful mental health break is consistent with feeding your body physically what it needs to thrive as well as mentally.

5. Do less of what you dread while taking a mental break

A mental health break is the perfect time to take a look at your life, and the people in it, to truly access. Is there a toxic friend or family member that brings you down or adds stress to your life? If so, it might be time to cut that person off. Or at the very least, distance yourself from them.

On the other hand, is your job stressing you out? This might be an indicator that you should take some time off work. Most companies have options available such as PTO, FMLA, or vacation time. If this isn’t an option, maybe it’s just about setting better boundaries and developing a good work life balance.

Check out my Work from Home Self Care Tips post, which highlights activities and practices to do weekly to help keep your work life balance in tact, especially if you happen to work from home.

6. Spend time outside during a mental health break

I always talk about how healing nature is, but for good reason.

Have you ever walked outside during an anxiety attack and been hit with the sound of birds chirping, frogs humming, cars driving by, or wind blowing?

If so, you probably witnessed the power of nature firsthand. It has a way of grounding you and making you live and feel in the moment. Consequently it makes your worries seem not-so-daunting and your existence so minimal in the grand scheme of things.

That’s why during a mental health break it’s crucial that you get out and do more things outdoors.

A few ways you could implement this is by committing to:

going for a short walk around your block daily
sitting outside to drink your morning coffee
sitting outside to drink an evening chamomile tea
laying out on your deck with a mocktail (because alcohol is a no-no during a mental health break)

7. Write it out

Getting things out in the form of writing is a great tip to implement during a mental break.

The moment you form your thoughts into something solid and concrete on paper, the less overwhelming it feels.

When it comes to what kinds of things you should be writing, there’s so many that are helpful:

Journal your thoughts including things you’re grateful for as well as things you are worried about.
Lists (my personal favorite)
1. to-do lists
2. shopping or grocery lists
3. Lists of helpful pointers for work projects
4. Lists of personal or work goals
5. …the list goes on – ha! No pun intended 🙂
Give structure and organization to your day by writing in a planner. I personally love using the Day Designer Daily & Monthly Planner because it has time block areas from 6AM-8PM.

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8. Faith

I debated putting this on the list because I am not an extremely religious person.

However, I do know that faith has pulled many people out of dark places.

If religion is one of your core values, a mental break is a great time do dive deeper into this. You could join a bible study group or just consistently go to church on Sunday or begin reading scripture.

I myself find peace in knowing this life is all part of something bigger than me. And that all of the beauty on planet Earth had to have been created by something bigger than myself.

9. Self care can improve the effectiveness of a mental break

A huge part of a mental break includes self care. The longer self care gets pushed to the side and neglected, the more likely you are to need to hit the reset button.

There’s so much that goes into self care but the just of it includes looking after yourself both physically and mentally.

Check out my post on How to Have Better Mental Health for all my best weekly self care pointers!

But at the bare minimum, here are some self care practices to implement during a mental break:

Take multi vitamin & supplements
Get plenty of R&R
Drink lots of water
Yoga or meditation
Practice your routines with intent (morning routines, skincare routines, night time routines, etc.)

10. Drop bad habits

My latest mental health break I discovered something about myself that I had been hiding from for years. I discovered that alcohol was no longer serving me and that I wanted to embark on sobriety.

I was by no means a textbook “alcoholic.” But, I was sick of wasting a day of my weekend nursing a hangover, or not remembering conversations or my behavior from the night before.

What started as a way to drop a few extra pounds physically, resulted in a lasting lifestyle change for its mental benefits.

If you also find yourself over indulging in alcohol or another substance, a mental health break is a great time to knock this bad habit for good.

Some other bad habits to kick during a mental break include:

Smoking
Being late
Procrastination
Perfectionism
Being a “Yes Man” or unable to say no

How often and for how long should your mental break be for?

So you’re ready to take a mental break? If so, you might be wondering how long is an acceptable amount of time to take a mental break as well as how often you should.

When it comes to the duration of your mental break, this will obviously vary from person to person.

One or two days could be enough for some while others might need to take upwards of a month or two.

Some indicators that you have had a successful mental break period could be: new feelings of inspiration, motivation, well rested and recharged.

For me, I fall somewhere in the middle and when I take a mental health break it’s typically for a week or two.

As for frequency, I believe everyone could benefit from a mental break once a year.

Final Thoughts on How to Take a Mental Health Break

Everyone needs a mental break every now and then. The ability to recognize this and actually act on it is something more people should be doing.

Have you yourself ever taken a mental health break?

If so, comment below with what the best thing that came out of taking one was!