We all get stressed from time to time. We know that the COVID crisis has been shining a light on mental health. So many of us were literally stuck inside isolated and alienated from our fellow wo/man. It seems, I actually hope, that people are realizing that they need to take care of their mental health.

I used to have a very hard time deciding if I needed to stay home from work, if I had physical illness. I knew I didn’t feel well, and I wanted to go back to bed, but as part of the negative self-talk in my head, I felt the need to discuss it with important others in my life and get their opinion. Luckily, I both received good advice and, in the end, my gut if you will, knew what I needed to do.

So, if I had problems with decisions of whether to go to work if I was sneezy, dizzy, etc., imagine trying to figure out what to do on a day that I could feel my mental illness stealing my energy, or a day that my sadness was overwhelming, or that I simply needed to take time for me.

It took a long while in this life for me to FOLLOW my gut and be STRONG ENOUGH to realize that I make the decision if I stay home or not. I truly believe that it was a form of meanness to myself that I felt so tortured when I was not doing well.

I felt that I needed others’ permission. I do not. If I had to, I would fight for my mental health days. Luckily, I work for someone who is awesome in so many ways, a true empath. When I tell her that that day is a mental health day, really she has never fought me on that (like I thought or feared she might).

To anyone who may struggle in this way, I send you my support, until you realize that permission is yours to give yourself.