Why It’s Okay to Take a Duvet Day

As I write this, it’s the Saturday before Christmas and, thanks to my boss gloriously deciding to close the office on Christmas Eve, I have a whopping five days off in front of me. Five. Whole. Days. Now, usually I use my annual leave from work on either the very very fun (holidays and trips) or the very very banal (roots need doing). I haven’t had five days off to essentially just relax in, well, a whole year.

Because the problem is that – like most other people I know – my days ‘off’ are really just days ‘on other things’. For me, chunks of my weekends are usually taken up by blog posts I owe brands, or some freelance work. For others, I know there’s volunteering, sports teams, or those little things known as actual human children to look after.

And if it’s not these commitments then there are houses to be cleaning, gyms to be attending and elderly relatives to be a-visiting. There is always, *always*, something else we should be doing that hangs over us like a big looming loomer.

This time though, I’m determined to take some proper time off. There’s a new acronym doing the rounds in meme-world at the moment: JOMO. The antithesis to everyone’s least favourite fomo, jomo is the Joy Of Missing Out. It is the contentment of staying at home while other people are out doing things, knowing that taking some time to yourself is exactly what you want to do – and I am 100% here for it.

This Christmas, I’m determined to switch off from work and enjoy a guilt-free duvet day (or, y’know, three). And it will be all the more cosy now that I have my new Leesa mattress*. I’m sure you’ve the Leesa brand with their iconic grey-and-white stripes all over social media recently, but what’s the fuss all about?

To give a brief intro, Leesa is a foam mattress, but not as you might know them. The mattresses consist of three layers of foam, which mean they have all of the benefits of foam mattresses (such as adjusting to your body and offering all of the support you need as well as comfort) without some of the downsides (for example creating a you-shaped dip in the mattress).

The company also offers a 100 day trial period, completely risk-free. So if for some reason you don’t get on with the Leesa mattress, it can be returned with no problems at all. Howevs, I’ve had mine for around three weeks now and can promise that it’s not going anywhere. My JOMO has been taken to a whole other level now that I can spend my evenings on this.

Whether you spend your duvet day on the bed or the sofa though, I think it’s something we all need to aim for more of. I’ve written before about the culture of comfort-zone bashing and I think JOMO is similar in that it goes against a very common ideology today that ‘busyness’ equates to success. Instagram is filled with quotes about hustling, being a girl boss and building an empire. We’re supposed to be putting in those entrepreneurial 12 hour working days and still finding room for cocktails with our friends and Body Pump classes to work off the cocktails.

But you know what? It’s bloody knackering. And you’re not going to get any sense of fulfilment if you’re finishing every week completely burned out. So, take some time off. Whether you binge on Netflix or start a new book, just do something you find relaxing and fun – and that you’re doing solely for your own enjoyment and peace of mind.

Thank you to Leesa for gifting me with this mattress. This post contains affiliate links.