Happy new week! I can honestly say that I'm starting this week the most refreshed I've felt in months. Why? Because I made a conscious decision to lean into rest heavily over the past few days and do nothing but engage in activities that I enjoy, nourish my soul and leave me feeling happier than when I started (like cleaning). This looked like spending ample time with my husband and son, creating content because you know how much I enjoy fashion, actually finishing two books I've been reading for months, cleaning up my apartment, cooking, etc. It also helped that I enjoyed 5 days off from work so I was basically on a staycation. So it got me thinking, how can we start every week feeling refreshed even when we can't take off 5 days from work to engage in self-care:
- Carve out some dedicated time before your workday begins to be still. I usually do this before going to bed because once I wake up to get ready for work, I'm in go mode. This time can be devoted to meditating, prayer/devotions, journaling, reading or whatever actives create calm in your atmosphere and nourish your soul.
- Turn off notifications or designate certain times throughout the day when you're not going to check notifications and/or put your phone on silent so you don't get distracted. I find that the more I'm checking notifications or scrolling through social media near bedtime or when I first wake up, the less at peace I feel.
- Create boundaries with how you spend your time and honor them. I don't think we need to elaborate on this too much. So all I'm going to say is that wasted or misallocated time can never be recovered. Steward it well.
- Do not crowd your calendar during your time off with too many social events. Also, we're in a pandemic so if you spend every weekend out and about socializing without a mask, I'm giving you the side eye. On a serious note, we all crave human connection especially now. As fun as it is to hang out, it's easy to feel tired after a day or night out with friends because having fun requires rest afterwards. So I don't pack too much into my days off. If I am spending time with friends during one of my days off one week, I probably won't make any social plans the next week or only group my social plans to one day of my weekend so I have a day dedicated just to rest and another day dedicating to getting things done around my home (yes I almost always have three day weekends because I work full time 4 days a week).
- Give yourself grace. It's not the end of the world if you don't accomplish everything on your weekend to-do list because you chose to rest instead. Your body will thank you for not being depleted.
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