Are your weekends just as busy and exhausting as your work week?
Do you ever secretly look forward to Monday morning so you can take a break from the endless line-up of social, sporting, cleaning, organising and other activities that are crammed into your supposed two-day ‘break’?
Scheduling weekend activities always seems like a good idea, especially if you’re looking to keep the kids occupied and catch up with family and friends. But when it comes to Saturday morning, many of us would simply rather hibernate in the house. Filling the two days you have off with everything you missed doing from Monday to Friday, and answering the call of as many social events as possible, can make for exhausting work.
So how can you make your weekends less frantic?
- Schedule ‘me time’. Schedule in two hours of ‘me time’ every weekend. Do whatever it take to find and keep this space for yourself (perhaps by alternating the caring responsibilities with your partner) and spend it doing what you actually enjoy. This is not an invitation to catch up on work emails or the dirty laundry but to actually relax. Recommended activities include reading and sleeping. Simple.
- Don’t be afraid to hire a babysitter. Sure, the kids have been in childcare or at school most of the week, but that doesn’t mean you still can’t take some time out. Getting a babysitter in for two to three hours on a Saturday afternoon or evening can give you the time and space to enjoy a meal with your partner or friends, or to simply get out for a quiet stroll on the beach,
- Limit your social ‘yeses’ to one ‘yes’ a day. It’s tempting to simply pack as many social activities as possible into the weekend, leaving your breakfasts, lunches and dinners covered. A simple rule of thumb is to organise one thing, per day. Just because you’re out for breakfast on Saturday and not for lunch, doesn’t mean you should book yourself in for both meals.
- Allow spare-of-the-moment activities. Isn’t it nice to wake-up on a Sunday morning, realise the weather is crappy, and schedule a movie-watching day? Or perhaps you wake to a surprisingly warm Winter’s day and think a trip to the beach is in order? Allow yourself the time and space for sporadic outings and let the weather guide your activity decision-making.
- Drink less. It’s an obvious one, but really it’s the key to getting the most out of your weekends. Avoid the hangover and return the love to your Saturday and Sunday mornings. A sore head that’s been self-inflicted is no fun at all.
- Attend regular, scheduled exercise appointments. These appointments could be anything from a Sunday morning run that occurs at the same time, every Sunday, to a Yoga class or 9am bike ride. Make no compromises on attending these appointments and, very soon, your friends and family will know just how important such personal exercise is to you and therefore to not try and keep you out late the night before, or tempt you with offers of brunch.
- Plan one great activity every weekend. Check the local papers for what’s on and plan to do something interesting and different every weekend. This could be with friends, your parents, or something kid-friendly for the family. It’s one way to get to Sunday afternoon and feel that your weekend has been truly satisfying, and a great technique for enabling everyone to see just how much you’re investing into coming up with and participating in great activities. Plan it. Organise it. Do it. Love it.
- Spend your weekends living, not cleaning. If that’s not possible, given your Monday to Friday is well and truly packed with work and other commitments, then consider investing in a cleaner. It’s not an ‘indulgence’ but rather a necessary service for keeping the house in order, and relationships between family members or housemates friendly.