Take a Mental Health Day

My mom has been a school teacher for decades. At the end of every school year she has this whole collection of sick days that she never took because she a) couldn’t abandon her class or b) might need them in the future or c) really needed to be around for extracurricular activity x, y, and z despite the fact that she’s coughing till she’s blue. 

She has a wee bit of a guilt complex. 

I can’t really remember all the details, but one Friday morning I called Mom at about 7 a.m. and she didn’t answer her phone.  (I know, I know…who calls people at 7 a.m. and expects them to answer? Me!)

She called back about an hour later saying that she’d just gotten out of the shower. I was shocked!  My mom gets the worm and all its little minions because she is Queen of the Morning Birds.

“But you’re going to be late for school!”  I said, getting ready to hang up the phone so she could blow dry her hair or whatever. 

“I’m not going today.”

“Are you like dying?”  My mom taught school two days after having knee surgery.  On crutches.  She taught school with pneumonia.  She’s tough like that. 

“No.  I’m taking a mental health day.”

At that point I was convinced dealing with sixth graders every day had finally melted her brain.  “Ummm….okaaaay?”

She explained that she’d been offered a district level job teaching teachers and she needed a day to think about it. 

I didn’t understand her hesitancy.  Better hours, better pay, no bratty kids. 

But I left her to her thinking.  (She took the job, by the way, and is now teaching Master’s level classes.  Because she is AWESOME).

Long story, short point. 

Sometimes we all need a mental health day. Today I’m taking mine. 

It’s hard for me not to be neck deep several projects.  I like having fifty things going at once.  Overwhelemed is my lifestyle.

Right now I’ve got so much swirling in my head that I have to take a step back and just think.  How much rewriting does that first draft really need?  Which of the twenty-seven ideas in my head should be my next WIP?  Do I go back to that story I love even though the market is saturated? 

I’m hoping that taking the time to figure this out will help expedite my actions. 

Now I’m going to go sit on my bed and beta read. And, you know, think.