This is something I wouldn't think twice about at a more everyday-type job with a regular employer. My boss wouldn't even have to know I wasn't really sick. Or, if your boss was cool, you could just tell them you need a personal day. But I work at home--self-employed--and apparently I am a really mean boss. I don't think twice about giving myself weekend work to do; I often force myself to work late into the night until it's time to go to bed; when Boss Me says "jump," Beleaguered Employee Me says "how high?"
And I'm a pretty good employee. Sure, I goof off now and then. Twitter appears on my monitor more often than it probably should. But I work hard. So I think I deserve a mental health day. I haven't had one in ages. So I started making a list of things I want to do on my mental health day: not a to-do list, because mental health days and to-do lists don't mix. Just a list of things I haven't really allowed myself to do in a long time--months, in many cases. And on my mental health day, if I'm wondering what I want to do--if, that is, I want to do anything other than being a TV-sated couch potato--I'll just consult the list. So far, I've got:
- play the Wii
- play the piano
- bake cookies
- read in the bathtub
- do a craft of some sort (perhaps going back to that knitting project I'm destined never to finish)
How about you? Had a mental health day recently? If not, why not? If so, what did you do with it?
3 comments:
Gah. My boss is just not as big of a jerk as yours. I don't work weekends. Since our friends argued a few weeks ago, I've made a habit of keeping the computer off on Saturdays entirely (!) and I only work Sundays if I'm on a DIRE deadline. I try to have the computer itself off every night by 9 pm, and now 7 in Cybils season to facilitate the reading - which for me is not work, but fun.
Wow. You should totally go on strike, your boss is MEAN.
For the last several years, most of the time when I take a vacation from the library, I am usually doing speaking engagements of some kind somewhere or a house project. This last week, I had a week away from home in which I did many fun things and really, really a lot of not much. I read, I slept too much, I gratuitously watched television, I sat around outside and enjoyed the weather. It was wonderful, and I am way more energetic since I've been back than I was before I left, so I guess there really *is* something to relaxation. Who would have guessed?
Yeah, my boss is mean. I'm worried I'll have to go on strike just to get my mental health day. :)
Adrienne, your week away from home sounds really wonderful and energizing. I could probably use a full week of slowing myself down. These days it seems so hard just to pencil in one lone day!
Post a Comment