A Weekend Is A Short Stay
Love it while you still can
It is that time of the week again — the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, and to many, the Friday night. A time when we like to have some time to ourselves, to do our own thing. I like to give myself rest on Saturdays and Sundays, however, there are chores to be done, and this article is about how I manage to take time out for rest in the midst of pending chores and well, weekend plans. I do this in order to be able to love the weekends and end up loving my life in the process.
Nowadays I hardly find the time to relax on the weekends ever since I joined the MA program I currently am in. Almost the entire weekend and weekdays are spent studying and preparing for presentations, exams, tests, and doing assignments. I am writing this article about things I loved to do on the weekends when I had a regular work life. I now realize the value of having a decent weekend, and how I would love them when I could have them in the future.
Make time to read quality literature
Now, what do I mean by quality literature? That depends on you. Whatever adds value to your life would be quality literature to you. For me, I like to read classics because I feel that those are works that have stood the test of time, and talk about the general truths of life applicable to everybody. Also, they are priced lower than new books, so I find that to be a favorable purchase.
Wake up early
I wake up early so that I can quickly catch up with all pending chores around the house, such as cooking and laundry. Once done with them, I have the entire day and evening to myself. I can sleep listlessly, go for a walk, or meet with friends.
Reconnect with your comfort zone
To me, my comfort zone is my bed. I like to lay there with a book or my phone. We hear of calls to exit our comfort zones and face new challenges. Well, I take the weekend for a time when I reconnect with the things I am most comfortable with. If I decide to spend time on a hobby such as drawing, then I do things that I already know how to. Say I know how to draw flowers, then I stay within the limits of drawing flowers. I am not advocating for laziness, I am only saying that I relax and take it easy on the weekends.
Invite friends over
Have your friends visit you at your home instead of going out into the city. Order in and watch a movie, or simply spend time catching up with them. You could even cook together. It is more relaxed and intimate when we meet our friends at home. You could even go to your friend’s place instead of having them over at your place.
Phone old friends or loved ones
You may have people who are close to your heart but who live at a distance. Weekend is a good time to phone them, and chat with them. This will keep your bond alive, as well as allow you to share quality time with them because they too would be having a day or two off on their weekend. And you don’t have to leave the comfort of your house to make a few phone calls.
Shop online
One relaxing thing to do on a weekend is to spend a few hours shopping online. Apart from groceries and things you need, you could shop for something that you want to have, as a reward for all the hard work you put in during the weekday. We all need rewards as motivators, and there is nothing like giving oneself a nice gift, be it a new outfit, phone, or even something little like a set of drawing pencils if you like to draw.
Prepare lists
Lists such as To-Do’s are best done during the lazy weekend. It is easier to recollect things when our minds are free. To-do’s require a lot of recollection because we need to remember from many different spheres of life, like maybe your taxes, books to buy, making updates to your bank accounts, etc.
Write that diary
Scribble a few lines, or write a whole lot, but do write in your diary or journal. Write about your feelings about the things that happened this week. Write about what happened this week. Write about new things you learned, new people you met, or people and things that are familiar to you. Writing helps me clutter my mind and improves my memory because spend time recollecting things from the past. This also helps me to produce my To-Do’s more efficiently because my mind is better able to remember important things.
Find one artist you hadn’t heard before
I like to find new artists so I do this on the weekend. My go-to app is the Spotify app and their playlists. I listen to their playlists and when I find someone interesting, I listen to an album or two, and if I like them I follow the artist.
Dream up new recipes
These could be healthy or indulgent ones. I understand that we need to take care of our health, but everybody needs to indulge once in a while. So if you are a fitness buff, you could indulge yourself on some weekends.
Write a poem
Doing this brings peace to my mind. I am able not only to vent my emotions in the poem but also am clarified all negative emotions. I find this activity as akin to meditation. So, light a few candles in your room, pick up a nice pen and paper, and write poetry. I personally don’t find digital writing of poetry to be that helpful to my soul, but putting physical pen to paper really helps in letting my emotions flow and getting in touch with myself.
