Sometimes a week can be so challenging and go by so quickly that weekends are spent numbly recovering, and before you know it, you’re right back to work. But with a little bit of planning you can take back your weekend for the express purpose of relaxation and recharging, on your terms. We want to share a few ideas with you to do just that.
Sleep
While there can often be some obligations on weekends to family and other activities, when there aren’t those obligations, sleep is an investment that always pays dividends. You never hear anyone say, “I’ve been getting too much sleep lately!” This doesn’t mean that you have to sleep in or go to sleep early. Take that luxurious and underused pleasure of a nap!
Staycation
Travel hasn’t been entirely easy or straightforward lately, so many people are understandably doing something they should have done a long time ago: get to know the places around them better. Whether it’s a day trip, staying in a local hotel and ordering room service, or just checking out some places that you’ve been meaning to get to “some time” but never get to, staycations are a great way to enjoy a weekend.
Movie Marathon
Even easier than a staycation is staying in and watching movies or series for the weekend. If you need some me time you can do this on your own, but if you want some friends over it’s not a hard sell to sit around and watch something together. The hardest part will be choosing what to watch, but after that’s handled you can get on to the fun part of getting food and snacks handled.
Treat
While “treat yourself” can often be associated with buying something, the truth is that treating yourself is just another way of doing something that you really enjoy doing but don’t get to do often enough. That can mean catching up with a friend, sipping a coffee while reading a book you’ve been meaning to get to, or yes, buying something you’ve been eyeing for a while.
Bathtub Soak
Showers are the efficient way to get ready for life or to wash off the day, but soaking in a bathtub is a luxurious act of decadence. You can customize it to your preferences, adding in the right lighting and music to match with the water temperature you like. What’s important is how great you’ll feel when you’ve had a chance to take back that time for yourself.
Walk/Hike/Bike/Run in Nature
While this is always weather dependent, being in nature is itself relaxing for a number of reasons. Exercise gives your body the boosts it needs to function at a higher level. Remember that you can always pair this “working” part of relaxation with one of the activities above to make it even sweeter (bathtub soak and/or a nap after some time out)
Electronics Fast
Given how connected we are to our mobile devices and how easily people expect to reach us, this is probably the form of relaxation that takes the most planning, but even then, that’s not a whole lot. Consider a weekend without electronics: let people know on Friday night that you’ll be back again on Saturday night and give them some non-electronic way to reach you. Then leave your devices alone and far away and rediscover that analog life. You’ll find out it’s much better than you could have imagined.
Whichever of these activities you choose, you’ll come back to your workweek refreshed and ready to go, and most importantly, you’ll have taken some time for yourself, which is something many of us don’t do enough of.
This content originally appeared in our monthly Open Calendar Club newsletter.
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