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| Photo by Robson Hatsukami Morgan. |
I don't think I need to explain that life can feel overwhelming, right? The question of how on earth we are supposed to have a job, social life, and family life, while also doing all the wellness stuff we're supposed to do (eat healthy food that we joyously prepared for ourselves! Meditate! Exercise! Sleep 7-10 hours!), the regular life-maintenance stuff (buy groceries, tidy up, clean the toilet, fix the thing that needs fixing, actually look at your credit card bill to see if it's accurate - this list doesn't get exclamation marks), AND stay caught up on all the TV shows we're supposed to binge immediately after they are released, is impossible. Impossible!
Because of this, I have generally treated weekends as a catch-up time. Luckily, I haven't made a habit out of letting my actual job to seep into my weekends, but I certainly have used these two precious days to cram in a zillion errands, coffee dates, and work on personal projects with Netflix streaming "in the background", making weekends more hectic than most weekdays.
Here's a new fix I came across: think of your weekends as vacations. (This is based on science, and thus indisputable!)
This doesn't mean going away every weekend, which just makes the work week feel like a non-stop sprint to catch up on life. It's a mindset shift where we enter Vacation Mode every weekend.
What does Vacation Mode mean? Probably a lot of things that are different for everyone, but I think there are two good places to start:
1) An "away" mentally.
Vacation might be one of the only times when we don't feel bad about ignoring our email or not responding to messages (although I think the prevalence of travel data plans is ruining this magic). How glorious to feel that way at home? (And you can employ brick mode if that helps you feel better about it.)
2) Prioritizing fun and relaxation.
When we plan vacations, we may occasionally throw in a "should" activity, but generally, they are planned through the "I really really want to do this" filter, whether that's lying on the beach or visiting a zillion art galleries. Obligatory visits to national monuments you don't really care about or lunches with the distant relative who lives in Bangkok aside, fun and relaxation are the top priorities when planning a vacation.
What a great metric for the weekend! I'm going to try it!
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