There come times when we all feel sad, anxious, depressed, or stressed in our lives. Some people may even experience chronic difficulties with their mental health.
These negative days, weeks, or even months can seriously weigh on us.
And while there are some small things you can do to uplift your mood when your mental health is not so great, sometimes a bigger push is needed.
For many, this can include therapy. Therapy can be for anyone, not just those experiencing more intense mental health symptoms.
And now, online therapy services such as MyTherapist are around to make therapy so much more accessible.
Click here to learn more: https://www.mytherapist.com/advice/counselors/.
Why Vacations Matter
In addition to therapy, we can provide ourselves with other grand gestures to boost our mood. Here, we’re talking about vacations.
Generally speaking, vacations and/or time off of work are absolutely necessary to maintain good mental health.
A vacation doesn’t have to mean tapping into your life savings and traveling the world (though it could).
This simply means that in order to rest and rejuvenate from our busy schedules, everyone needs some dedicated time to unwind and just focus on ourselves.
A vacation allows you to reset so that you aren’t running on fumes for the rest of your career.
How Vacations Can Help Mental Health
Here are four reasons why vacations are essential for good mental health:
- They can be a great family or couple’s bonding experience. Planning your trip to include couple’s or group mediation can help bring your family closer if you have experienced difficulties with those interpersonal connections. Just make sure that time spent working on those connections is deliberate, otherwise a trip together may just create more stress.
- They allow you to take a break from your daily schedule. A trip or even a staycation can allow that necessary amount of time your brain needs to come back to center. Whatever your schedule includes, it’s important that your vacation gives you a little break from those stressors, whether it be taking care of the kids, constant emails, or clientele.
- You can breathe in some fresh air. Whether you love the beach or the mountains, big cities or rural areas, a vacation is a great time to get outside. Often our daily schedules make that hard for us, but fresh air and sunshine are key components to good mental health.
- You can learn more about your surroundings. Whether you take a trip somewhere you have never been before, or you simply explore your own backyard, a vacation is the perfect opportunity to learn something new. This can mean visiting museums or cultural sites or even practicing mindfulness and learning introspectively. Broadening the mind can really help to boost your mood and make you feel more confident in the world you inhabit.
Takeaway: Time Off is Essential
Taking time off from work, school, or caring for kids is essential in order to alleviate any stress that has built up.
Carrying stress around without any release can cause more harm than you think.
Built up stress can lead to more fatigue, depression, brain-fog, and anger, so that release is actually necessary to continue living your life in a healthy, productive way.
Taking vacations, whether you roam far or stay close, are an essential part to maintaining mental health.
Even if it’s just a long weekend, you deserve to take some well-deserved time for yourself!