This article originally appeared in Today.com.
It’s one thing to know you should take some time to focus on your mental health. It’s another thing to actually do it, and to do it in a way where you emerge restored and replenished.
According to a new poll, 32% of American adults are so stressed by the pandemic, they sometimes wrestle with daily tasks, such as choosing what to eat or what to wear. You might feel like you have 1,000 things to do — so scheduling a day that doesn’t get any of them done can feel like a step backward. But caring for your mental health is crucial. Plus, it can put you in a better position to tackle that to-do list afterward.
“I think as a society, we tend to push stress away. We think, ‘I’m not that stressed. It’ll be fine. I’ve been more stressed before,” Shannon Brogdon, assistant program director at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Western Psychiatric Hospital, told TODAY. But that’s not healthy.