I did not want to get out of bed this morning.

Those are the worst days, especially when you have things to do. I laid there and just kind of thought, “Maybe I could cancel my plans for the day, no one would miss me.” Anxiety does that to you, just makes you want to stay in bed because something about your day just doesn't feel right. I kept telling myself that I'm allowed to have off days, which is 100% true. But I kept being torn between the ideology that says "you don't have to be completely put together today" and "you should really try to make today a good day."

That's where things get hard. How do you decide which kind of day you're going to have? The immediate answer should be to get up, put on your big girl panties and some red lipstick and own it. But for some of us, that's not something we can do. We're lucky to even get out of bed some days. So, how did I decide what to do?

I realized that if I thought it wasn't possible for me to get out of bed that day, I wouldn't have made it an option. I would've given myself a day to recoup. If you can't even fathom getting out of bed, let alone leaving the house, do what you can to have the day to yourself, but do it early. If you need to email your prof about missing class, do that. If you need to call up a coworker to snag your shift, do that. Your mental health is so, so, so important, and people need to realize that. Now, don't use mental health as an excuse to just miss class or stay home and binge Netflix and miss out on your shift. Mental health days are serious, so treat them as so. And when you get the go ahead, you recoup. Take a bath. Take a couple of minutes to make a plan for your week if you can. Organization is key to releasing unneeded stress. Eat something healthy. Try to stay away from your phone for a bit. This is time for yourself, and if you keep browsing social media, you're letting the world into your “me time.” And don't beat yourself up about taking the day off. If you're at the point where you needed a day, it was just getting worse and if you waited any longer, it could've been harmful to you. Realize that you're making decisions that are healthy for you, and be okay with that.

Now, if you're thinking that you can hold off on that mental health day, it's time to get up. Set a few small goals before you get out of bed. Maybe you think you need to grab a small breakfast, wash your face, brush your teeth, get dressed. Take those goals at your own pace. You got out of bed and that's a big deal, celebrate. Make some plans for your day, schedule in time for a breather. Take it slow. If something you had planned for the day seems a little overwhelming, push it back if you can. Eliminate little things that might cause you stress or anxiety. Stay off your phone. Don't eat in the break room if you would rather be alone, relax in your car or a quiet spot on campus. And when you make it through the day, go home and relax. Take a bath, leave your phone in another room and grab a book. Eat something healthy for dinner, maybe even go for a run.
You did it, you made it through your day.

What did I do? I got up. I should've eaten, but I didn't. That's a goal I have set for next time. I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and left. I drank a lot of water. And then when I was done with my day, I let myself have a pumpkin spice latte and I went home and read a book.

You have to know when your mental health is under attack and when you need to let yourself rest. Your mental health helps decide who you are as a person, and you need to take care of it and it, in turn, will take care of you. So whether or not today was a Stay-In-Bed-Kind-Of-Day or a Get-Up-And-Go-Kind-Of-Day, give yourself some love, because you made it. And I'm proud of you.