How To Truly Be Recharged By Your Weekend

Dwyer stumbled across an article that changed his weekend lookout to go from worrying about going back to work to enjoying being away from work.

The article from TIME states that the key to having a recharging weekend is to be sure you're separating your time off from your normal daily grind because it's important to our longevity. The article cites Andrea Bonior, an adjunct psychology professor at Georgetown University, and host of a mental health podcast.

“Time off is not a sign of weakness,” Bonior says. “We need it physically, we need it emotionally, we need it mentally.”

What it all comes down to is mindset. The TIME article breaks this down into 5 easy pieces.

Make Your Intentions Known Verbally

When your workday wraps up on Friday afternoon, you remind yourself that you are in time off. It's vacation, and your family and friends should know too. This helps you to send a signal to your brain to slow down and pay attention to the now, instead of the weekend going by in a blur.

Get Creative With Making Time

Sure, you're a parent, or your days off don't always happen consecutively. Sometimes our weekends are chock full of obligations. If that's the case, it's time to get creative. Apply your "I'm on vacation" mindset. In the event you have kids with you all weekend, make it an occasion. “Maybe spend the day with the kids doing something fun, but then get a babysitter for two hours and go out to a nice dinner with your partner,” she says.

Barriers and Priorities

Brainstorm on what usually keeps you from enjoying a vacation. If it's cost, then do stuff that doesn't cost money. Go hiking, float on the river, have a picnic in a park. If you're staying in at home, set some boundaries. Turn off your email notifications for the weekend. Take a break from one of the chores you usually have to do.

Be a Tourist

Do something new in your town, and disconnect yourself from your usual habits. Eat somewhere new, visit stores you haven't been to, hit up the park you've always wanted to go check out.

Breaking your habits is key to getting recharged. “When you go to a new place and are discovering new things, you’re learning about yourself, and this is new information that can bring you joy or stir ideas,” Nika Kabiri, a decision scientist who applies the philosophy to her own life is quoted in the TIME article. “The spontaneity is what makes experiences like this feel vacation-like,” Kabiri says.

Don't Make It Pressure Filled

You don't have to have a stressful vacation. Just treat the weekend with some ease. Walk to the coffee shop with your person, and chat along the way.

If there's some kind of a hiccup in the weekend, don't worry about it.

“It doesn’t have to be all or nothing,” Bonior says. “Don’t put pressure on yourself to have this ‘perfect vacation.’”

Read more at TIME