If it feels like your weekends are disappearing down a black hole of chores and exhaustion, it’s time to reclaim your time off. Here are some schedule suggestions to make the most of your weekend
Remember when you were a kid, and the weekend would stretch ahead of you, like an open landscape of endless time? Well, now you are an adult and the average weekend lasts long enough to get two loads of washing done and maybe sit on the couch for 15 minutes. But there is a better way to find some rest, relaxation and recharging time in your weekend, it just requires a little planning!
Thursday night
Cook something that you can eat the leftovers of on Friday night.
Decision fatigue is a very real thing, which is why by Friday night so many of us just stare into our fridges blankly, as if we are staring into a void. Making a double load of something that reheats well on Thursday night then gives Future You the reward of a no-cook Friday night, without the price tag of an Uber Eats order.
Friday night
Wash your hair.
Not only are you giving yourself the gift of clean hair for the weekend, but there’s something spiritually cleansing about washing away the week that was. If you have an extra 10 minutes, either do what the kids are calling ‘the everything shower’ or throw on a face mask, use the special body moisturiser, or paint your toenails. Something that is a little more special than the normal ‘get in, get out’ rushed process signals that hey, it’s the weekend! Let’s slow down a bit.
Saturday morning
No alarm please!
Let’s be realistic: if you have small children, or are a weekend sport person, then Godspeed – this is not a luxury you can always enjoy. But getting an extra hour of sleep, or even just an extra hour of being-in-bed time, can be enough to help you catch up on the week. On the flip side, throwing your weekday sleep schedule out the window can make it harder to adjust come Monday morning, so sleep researchers recommend only giving yourself an hour’s wiggle room on your normal sleep timetable. (And no, ‘wiggle room’ is not a sex euphemism, but IT COULD BE).
Saturday afternoon
Hobby time
“The opposite of play isn’t work, it’s depression,” said author and play advocate Brian Sutton-Smith, about the importance of play in our lives. When we’re stressed and tired, we can view rest as a purely sedentary activity – collapse on the couch with the remote, stay in bed all weekend. But neither of those activities are regenerative, and they make time go very quickly. A hobby is an activity that absorbs you, that has no monetary incentive, and is something you do just for fun – it’s the adult version of playtime. Having a hobby has been linked to lower symptoms of depression and higher feelings of life satisfaction.
According to Psychology Today, if you work in the creative fields during the week, then a repetitive, non-creative hobby like gardening or a physical hobby like a team sport can help you feel more rested. If it’s the opposite and your day job is repetitive, then a creative hobby like painting or poetry can recharge you, because it’s a different type of activity than your job.
If you’re struggling to think of a hobby that suits you, well, you’re not alone. Turns out there’s a ‘gender hobby gap’, where men are far more likely to have time to have a hobby than women are. So if your first reaction to the idea of ‘get a hobby’ is that you absolutely don’t have time for that, it might be worth reading a little bit more about why that is (and why that wouldn’t be the reaction of, say, a man).
Saturday Evening
Go For A Walk
Nothing suggests we’re circling round middle age than replacing ‘go out and have a sweaty one night stand’ with ‘go for a walk,’ but time spent in nature is great for your mental wellbeing, and going for a walk is a surprisingly excellent way to calm anxiety and boost energy. For some people, going for a walk before dinner and a night on the couch with your partner and your Netflix might just be a great way to stretch your legs. But it can also be a great saviour if you’re in a stage of life where Saturday nights are pretty hard – if you’re going through a break-up, or any other life transition. Psychologists have said that even a 10 minute walk can be as good as a 45-minute workout for your mental health, and the benefits can last a couple of hours.
Sunday morning
Have A Fancier Breakfast
During the week, breakfast can easily be an annoyance or an afterthought. But a more leisurely Sunday morning breakfast implies having a bit more time – great for the brain – and it also creates a ritual to look forward to. The power of anticipatory joy is huge for our mental health – and we can harness that power for the big things, like a trip away, and also the little things, like the greatest ever recipe for pancakes or a plate of scrambled eggs on toast.
Sunday midday
The Hour of Power
Chores – nobody likes them, but they can bring a feeling of being prepared for the week ahead, aka ‘The Sunday reset.’ Creating an ‘hour of power’ where everyone in the house knuckles down to clean the house for an hour stops them from taking over the whole day, and gives you a calmer house. Plus, sandwiching them between nice things makes them feel less like a burden.
Sunday afternoon
Unstructured Time
Sure, putting ‘unstructured time’ in your diary may be a new level of A-type insanity but the reality is, we’re often too overscheduled and overcommitted in our lives, and it’s a problem that even our kids are facing. Blocking out some time each weekend to see where the wind takes you will help you create some space and some spontaneity in your life. It leaves room for a little magic.
Maybe the weather is good and you end up going for a family swim, seasons be damned! Maybe you see what the local movie theatre is playing an hour before the next session starts. Maybe you spend that time reading on the couch. Either way, it’s time that belongs to you, not someone else’s schedule.
Sunday night
Socialise
The easiest way to beat the Sunday scaries is to hang out with people that remind you of a life outside of work or commitments. It’s also a opportunity to create another ritual in the weekend – maybe it’s family that you go and see each Sunday night, maybe you and a couple of other families do a pizza night, maybe you meet up with a friend for a drink.
The benefits of socialising are HUGE, but in this day and age, we all have to make more of an effort, so a regular time slot is a great way to make it happen. Sunday night is an unexpectedly fun time to hang out with someone, without the pressure of Friday or Saturday night plans. It feels like a bonus, which is a great way to wrap up a recharging weekend.