I have been sharing telemental health tools to use with kids on Tuesdays, but this week I moved that post to Thursday. In the United States, it’s election day, and although I often don’t directly “talk politics” on this blog (even though mental health is political), I thought self-care was a more important topic right now.
Humans are basically cell phones with feelings, and burnout is when we run out of batteries. Most people don’t wait until their phone is completely dead to plug it in, and this means that it charges back up faster. Although you can still use your phone while it’s plugged in, there are limitations, such as needing to stay near an outlet.
We need rest, both to keep up with our responsibilities and to do the fun things that we enjoy. You can’t play games on a dead phone battery any more than you can make an important call or reply to an email from your boss. The fun parts of self-care are not possible unless adequate rest is happening.
For myself, I took the rest of the week off work. Hopefully that will give me time to recharge, plus the energy to do things I want to do and not just the things I have to do. I hope you also get time to rest.