”Why We All Need Mental Health Days—And Why Veterans Especially Deserve Them

By Dagmarie Daniels | Life Coach & Founder of Beyond Invisible Battles

“It’s not just a bad day—it’s a battle. Stop shaming people for needing peace.”

Let’s be honest—we’re all carrying something. Whether it’s burnout, grief, anxiety, trauma, or the unrelenting pressure to keep it together… many of us are just surviving, not thriving.

And yet, we still live in a world that treats taking a mental health day like an act of laziness instead of an act of courage.

As a life coach, I see this every day. But more intimately, I live this reality at home—as the wife of a disabled veteran. I’ve seen what occurs when we ignore or downplay our inner struggles. And I’ve learned that veterans are typically the last to let themselves rest and recover, and the first to be forgotten when they do.

🧠 Mental Health Days: The Reality

 The point of taking time off for mental health is not to escape life, but to make the most of it.

 They make room for us to:

• Put a pause on the process before we break

•  Keep our neurological system in check

• Get some rest or go to therapy.

• Do not do wellness; exist.

  
  

 Indulging in mental health days is not a luxury. They guard their territory. They are frequently lifesaving for veterans.

🎖️ Beyond the Battlefield: The Veteran’s Fight We Don’t See

Everyone has bad days—but some people are still living in the aftermath of trauma that rewired how they move through the world.

Veterans are trained to push through, keep quiet, and wear strength like armor. Many continue to fight unseen battles long after the uniform comes off—PTSD, anxiety, panic, isolation. They often feel shame for taking time to care for themselves, even when their entire nervous system is screaming for rest.

If we don’t make space for their healing, we risk losing them not in combat—but in silence.

💼 For the Workplace, the Community, and the Culture

This blog is for everyone, not just veterans. This is a place for those who feel overwhelmed in a world that always wants more—more work, more perfection, and more performance.

 Mental health isn’t something that can be put into a single box. We need to talk about the specific problems that veterans and other groups that don’t get enough attention have to urge everyone to join the conversation about mental health.

🏢 In the Workplace

Many employers may showcase mental health posters and organize wellness initiatives during designated awareness months or create some commitment with military branches. Still, these actions often fail to effect genuine change in workplace culture. Many veterans, especially those with service-conected disabilities like PTSD or anxiety, feel that they have to disguise their symptoms so they won’t be perceived as unstable or undeserving of work. They are under pressure to immediately adapt, keep calm, fulfill deadlines, and hide how their trauma affects their work. This isn’t right and could hurt their health.

Employers should do the following to make the workplace more supportive:

1. Adopt trauma-informed policies that permit flexible scheduling and mental health leave without the risk of retaliation or job loss.

2.  Provide training for HR and leadership to comprehend the realities of service-related trauma, including its manifestations in physical behavior and psychological response.

3. Offer quiet rooms, therapy access, peer support, and EAPs that are veteran-accessible.

4. Avoid gaslighting language like “just push through,” “we all have hard days,” or “don’t bring personal issues to work.”

Veterans bring strength, discipline, and leadership to every team—but they shouldn’t have to sacrifice their peace of mind to keep their paycheck.

🏘️ In the Community

Communities often rally around veterans during holidays—Veterans Day, Memorial Day—but the support ends with barbecues and parades. What veterans need is ongoing, lived acknowledgment of the internal wars they’re still fighting.

This starts with changing our language and being willing to hold space.

Don’t say: “But you don’t look like you have PTSD.”

 Do say: “How are you feeling today?”

Don’t say: “You’re so strong—you’ll get through it.”

 Do say: “You don’t have to be strong all the time. You’re allowed to fall apart.”

Communities need to:

• Promote peer support programs and safe spaces for veterans and caregivers to connect and decompress.

• Host mental health workshops that include voices of veterans, spouses, and therapists who understand complex trauma.

• Normalize asking for help—before someone is in crisis.

Because isolation is one of the biggest threats veterans face after returning home—and community connection can be the most powerful healing tool of all.

🎭 In the Culture

Somewhere along the way, we started praising pain.

 We began calling people “strong” when they kept going through heartbreak, trauma, and exhaustion without flinching. We celebrated the ones who didn’t cry, who didn’t rest, who didn’t ask for help.

And we called that resilience.

But let me be honest with you—that’s not resilience. That’s survival mode.

 And we’ve been stuck in it for far too long.

Especially veterans.

 Especially the people who’ve been trained to suffer in silence and wear it like a badge of honor.

 Especially the ones who feel like if they slow down, they’ll fall apart—and if they fall apart, they’ve somehow failed.

Our culture has made rest feel like weakness.

 We’ve glorified the grind and romanticized emotional numbness.

 We keep telling people to “stay strong” when they’re already breaking.

We need to stop.

Because real strength isn’t pretending, you’re fine.

 Real strength is being honest when you’re not.

 It’s saying, “I’m tired. I’m hurting. I need space.”

 It’s choosing healing—even when it’s messy, slow, and uncomfortable.

So let’s stop giving out gold stars for suffering.

 Let’s stop applauding the people who bury their pain to keep performing.

And let’s start honoring the quiet bravery it takes to say:

“I can’t do this today, and that’s okay.”

 Because choosing to care for your mental health is not selfish.

 It’s sacred.

🫶 You Don’t Need to Be Broken to Deserve Rest

Whether you’re a veteran, a spouse, a nurse, a teacher, an entrepreneur, or someone quietly holding it together—you do not need to prove your pain to justify your pause.

If you need rest, take it.

 If you need help, ask.

 If you need silence, honor it.

You’re not failing. You’re choosing yourself.

✊ For the Ones Who’ve Fought Twice as Hard. This Is for You

This is for the battle-tested—the ones who went to war and came back to a battlefield no one can see.

 The ones who wake up sweating from dreams they can’t explain.

 The ones who smile in public but fall apart in private.

 The ones who feel like they’re barely holding it together, but still show up.

This is for the caregivers, the spouses, the quiet supporters.

 The ones who carry stories they didn’t live through—but still feel every ripple of.

 The ones who sit beside the pain, who love through the shutdowns, the flashbacks, the silence.

 The ones who’ve learned to be strong without ever being asked how they are doing.

This is for anyone whose soul is running on fumes.

 Who keeps showing up, not because they’re okay—but because they don’t know how to stop.

Let me tell you something:

You don’t need to earn your rest.

 You don’t need to be on the edge of collapse to ask for support.

 You don’t need to keep pretending you’re fine to make everyone else comfortable.

You deserve to pause.

You deserve to be held.

You deserve to be seen—in your strength,

your struggle, your softness, and your survival.

You’ve given so much to this world.

 Now it’s time the world gives something back.

 Starting with grace.

💬 Join the Movement

My movement, Beyond Invisible Battles, started because I couldn’t stay silent any longer.

 The truth is simple but urgent: our veterans deserve better.

 But here’s what I’ve learned—healing isn’t just their fight. It’s our fight.

When we start normalizing rest and mental health care, we’re not only lifting those on the frontlines—we’re lifting everyone.

This is a call to all of us: to see the invisible battles, to hold space for the struggles, and to choose healing together.

If this speaks to you, I invite you to join the movement.

📍 Visit: www.wayofthewiseowl.com

 🎧 Listen to my podcast: Road of Recovery of a Female Player

 📩 Reach out anytime: lifecoachingservices@wayofthewiseowl.com

We’re in this together.

Dagmarie Daniels