Photo: Andreea Chidu via Unsplash
It's like a mental health day, but sexier.
By Celeste Seiferling — Written on Aug 03, 2019
Learning how to be healthy means understanding how to take care of your sexual health and wellness.
In order to live a healthy life, you need to take breaks. Probably more often than you think you do. Most likely, eventually, your body will force you to take a break — by getting sick or so tired that you literally cannot do whatever you are meant to do.
As a counselor, I believe in taking breaks before you get to that point. I am a strong advocate of mental health days and I believe in tuning into your body and your emotions, as well as slowing down when you need to.
And recently, I have also become interested in the idea of taking sexual health days.
Your mental health is greatly affected by your sexual health. Your gender and sexual identity affect how you exist in the world. Your sexual experiences — good, bad, and in between — affect your emotional health and your self-identity.
How you treat your body is correlated with how well you are feeling, and, in turn, how you feel will affect how you treat your body. This translates to how you treat others and how they treat you.
In essence, your sexual health matters in a healthy lifestyle.
Sexual health does not need to be about having sex all the time or having a lot of partners.
Sexual health is about identifying the kind of touch that feels good. It’s about connecting with your body. It’s about learning to feel powerful in your body. It can be about discovering your orgasm. It can be about connecting with partners. But, ultimately, your most important sexual partner is you.
So if you want to be healthier, get sexy with yourself. Take a day to move, dance, breathe into your body. Eat delicious foods, light your house up with candles. Take a bath. Wax your legs (or don’t). Feel your own touch. Lay in the sunshine.
Here are 5 reasons why you need to take a sexual health day, today (no, you don’t have to tell your boss, but you can if you want to).
1. It allows you to get in tune with and love your body
Taking a day to show your body some love will help you become more attuned to it. It lets you slow down, and really pay attention to what you need and want.
Where is your body feeling stuck? Where is it feeling strong? How can you meet the needs of your body? How can you love it up with no preconceptions or ideas of what you are supposed to do?
It gives you a chance to explore and be present.
2. It lets you play with your senses
Sensuality is about using all of your senses; being mindful means that you are tuning in to all of your senses. So play with that.
Eat only your favorite foods, without judgment or shame. Fill your home with smells you adore. Go outside and feel the ground on your feet and the sun on your face. Inhale nature into your lungs and heart.
You have more than five senses — get really into your body and see if you can feel them all.
3. It helps you acknowledge that you deserve love and care
Taking a day off to pamper yourself sends an important message to you — that you matter. That you deserve love and care and attention.
It reminds you, on a psychological level, that you are worthy. It does not need to be expensive or extravagant — just a day to focus on you, whatever that looks like to you.
4. It helps keep you healthy — physically, emotionally, and mentally
A sexual health day is a good preventative measure for taking care of your physical health, which will help you from getting sick too often, keep you well-rested, and allow you time to take care of the areas of your body that need tending to.
It is also incredible for your mental and emotional health, giving you time and space to notice your feelings and where you are at mentally.
It lets you tune in and relax, in a whole new way.
5. It’s fun and sexy
Life can’t always be about work or your to-do list. You need to take days to remember that life is supposed to be fun. You are allowed to let yourself play. Channel your inner child and let them out to play!
It may be unconventional, it may not sound like something you would do, but just consider, for a minute, what it might look like if you took one day off to pay attention to your inner sex god or goddess. Then, make it a reality.
Try it and see what happens.
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Celeste Seiferling is a sexual health educator, and counselor, in Regina, Saskatchewan. She is working on changing the language and stigma around sex and sexuality, and helping women get into their bodies, and identify their needs. You can find more about her work on her website or follow her on Instagram.