Your mental health should take precedence over your productivity. It’s fine if you need a day to rest, reset, and recharge. You may take a moment to relax and breathe. It does not make you sluggish. It does not imply that you are a slacker. It does not imply that you are a failure. It gives you humanity. Everyone needs to take a step back from time to time. You are not alone in your emotions, even if you feel as if you are alone on an island.

Taking a day for yourself is not always possible. If you can’t lock yourself away in your room for a while and forget about your problems, if you have to go to work because you need the money or are out of sick days, try not to push yourself too hard. Remind yourself that it’s okay if you accomplish less than usual. Remind yourself that no one else is judging you as harshly as you have been. Remind yourself that it’s okay to have a bad day. Nobody will blame you for it, and if they do, you can always explain your side of the story.

Your mental health should take precedence over your social life. It is acceptable to cancel plans with friends. It’s fine if you need to cancel your attendance at a party. It’s fine if you need a day to yourself because the prospect of socialising with other people is too much for you right now. It’s okay to need some alone time every now and then; most of your friends will understand. Even if they can’t understand how your mind works, they will give you another chance. They are not going to abandon you. They are not going to let this be the end of your friendship.

Of course, you don’t want to become accustomed to cancelling all of your plans. You don’t want to be a bad friend by constantly making promises that you don’t keep. If you do, some of your friends will not understand why you need a break. They will not understand what you are going through. They will not see the source of your behaviour. They will only notice how it affects them. This may cause you to lose some people along the way. You might unintentionally part ways with people you thought would be there forever. You may need to form a new group of friends or you could try to avoid it by forcing yourself to go to that party or agree to that plan, even if it’s the last thing you want to do with your time.

Everything else should take a back seat to your mental health. Of course, this isn’t always true. You may not always be able to take a day off from work. You may not always be able to cancel plans. Sometimes you can’t get out of obligations in order to relax.

Even if you become engrossed in your routine, you must not neglect your mental health. You can’t stop taking care of yourself, even if it’s in small ways. You cannot overestimate the importance of prioritising yourself because you deserve to feel better.