Something I’ve gotten used to, especially in the last semester of my undergraduate career, is not feeling guilty about spending the weekend at home. Sometimes, this takes the form of planning out the fact that I’m not leaving my bed for most of a Saturday, or I decide that I don’t need to exert myself with any crazy plans today. So, why is this reluctance to do anything “productive” such a game-changer?
You see, here’s the misconception I was struggling with: Having a rest day (or a rest weekend) is unproductive. It feels extremely different compared to how I’m constantly in and out of my apartment during the week going to classes, my job, extracurricular activities, and meetings, all while making time to see friends in between. I guess that change of pace felt wrong to me.
However, once I changed the way I viewed weekends at home, replacing guilt with satisfaction, I came to feel much more prepared for my coming weeks!
The importance of slowing down (Even if I don’t feel like it)
I find myself feeling a lot like this work of art above. Coincidentally, I feel that way the most often when I push myself too hard over the weekends. Some weekends are different; I do have the energy to exert myself, and sometimes, that’s the best option for me.
However, I also find myself on the flip side, mindlessly searching for something to do over the weekends. That feeling probably comes from my desire to always be “doing something.” At that point, I’m forcing myself to do something just to do something.
Redefining “productivity”
Something I found to finally push me towards full acceptance of restful weekends is a little change of definition. Since productivity, or the perceived “lack” of it, is a large cause behind my past reluctance to relax, getting to the root of the problem was key.
I wholeheartedly agree with the fact that productivity varies from person to person. It’s hard for me to imagine one person’s idea of productivity looking the same as the next person’s — we all have different needs and backgrounds. When busy weeks as a college student are factored in, productivity can start to look a lot different during the weekend.
Implementing rest days
How can I ensure I meet my needs for productivity during the week in all aspects of my life? Simple: I need to recharge and rest over the weekend, even if that sometimes means spending a day reading a book in my room. It’s so different than my bustling life during the week, but it’s needed! I view weekend rest days as productive in themselves for that reason.
This mindset completely changed my mind about rest days and rest weekends. I no longer felt strange about not having elaborate plans every weekend, and the urge for each of my weekends to be groundbreaking or memorable faded away gradually. Now, I can’t see the rest weekends as unproductive at all. If anything, they’re completely essential, which sounds very productive to me.
Do you find yourself feeling a similar way about taking breaks, especially during the weekends, when you might find yourself having more free time than usual? What’s your favorite way to spend a restful weekend? Let me know because I might just decide to switch things up and take some inspiration for my next rest weekend. There I go, craving it again!
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