Last time I took a mental health sick leave was for three months after a breakup. Back then I moved into my parent’s in-law suite and basically just tried having one single task on my todo list at a time. Wether that was dishes, making my bed or showering. (This excluded taking care of my cat as she didn’t sign up to be neglected) I mostly worked on 3D modeling projects at the time and worked through the process of buying a sailboat to live on. The biggest help for me was being able to get “old people meals” from the local small grocery store and having.

These days I haven’t needed to take time off because I pre-emptively sail to a remote anchorage for a week or two and separate myself from being able to run errands or be available for people except the once that help me recover (they bring me food and cuddles :3). No neighbours, no noises that aren’t me (except the screaming kitty) Only me in my lil solar powered spaceship taking naps until I slowly start being able to do the tasks I wanna do.

I know I’m doing better when I start just naturally cleaning up the counters, working on lil projects and my brain doesn’t need 2-3 naps a day. For my sick leave I was starting to look forward to working on my work projects by the third month. Oh and the emotional disregulation started fading lol

But yeah, sleep and reducing demands (including even just the POSSIBILITY of doing things) is key for me.