When you exercise for mental health, taking rest days is hard

I have my gym bag with me at work today, with running kit in it, but I can’t decide if I’m running at lunchtime or not. I want to, and I’m not too sore from Crossfit but at the back of my mind I think that maybe I could/should do with a rest day.

Somehow I’ve found so many fun things to do that I don’t actually have a single day anymore when I don’t do anything. My lightest days are Saturday and Sunday when I just boulder and swim, although sometimes on Sundays I run as well.

This week, for example, I ran 17km on Sunday, did Crossfit on Monday and Tuesday, ran a fast 10km on Wednesday and did Crossfit on Thursday. Now it’s Friday and I have a tiny bit of a sore throat and I’m thinking that maybe it’s a bit insane to exercise every single day.

Or maybe not? I mean I sit in the office all day long so why would a 6km run at lunchtime today be insane? (other than I would do 6kms of fast intervals 😉

I can’t decide. I don’t know what’s normal anymore but then again I don’t know whether I even want to be normal. I know that I feel really grumpy when I don’t exercise every day but could something that’s great for my mind be bad for my body i.e. could I be overdoing it a bit?

No freaking idea.

Are total rest days actually necessary? Am I insane to consider a 40min bouldering session day or a 1.5k swim day ‘active recovery’ days?