Five things I must do during weekends
During weekends, one usually catches up on sleep, rest and family time. But more often than not, we forget that we some time for ourselves!
I had a conversation with a friend lately and we both agreed that it is great to stay alone at home for a couple of hours on Saturdays to rest. I have never felt this way till recently. I am an extrovert and I love being around people. Yes, there would be days that you may see me sitting at a corner, not wanting to mix with others - but these days are rare and would only come about when I am stressed or unhappy.
Having some "time-off" during the weekends is easy for me because I don't have children and it is not compulsory for me to visit my parents over the weekend - I can take some leave to do that. But "time-off" is important, this is when you rest, gather your thoughts and try to think positive.
There are five things that I have to do over the weekend just to re-invigorate and get prepared for a full work day ahead. In 2012, I worked on Sunday nights and these past two weeks, I haven't been doing so - I am so much more relaxed. Perhaps it is time for me to take turns with a colleague so that I get to have some "off-time" on Sunday nights. We'll see.
Five things I definitely have to do during weekends:
1) Yoga - It relaxes and calms me - especially the breathing exercises. I can't do all the yoga moves well but I am very slowly improving. I have to lose a bit of the tummy or else there is a lot of resistance when I stretch to reach my feet. Now that I am heavy, I can't really do a lot of cardiovascular exercises as my knees hurt. But, once my weight is under control, I hope to start jogging or cycling again.
2) Music and Reading - This is really good for my emotional well-being. I notice that "feel good" music calms me down a lot. Songs such as "Fly me to the moon", "Lucky", "Moon River"...the acoustic versions particularly - really makes me feel happier. And I can just lounge around drinking wine and/or tea. Just 1-2 hours of this is enough to make me feel more relaxed.
3) Housework (not a lot of it, just a manageable portion) - Yes, housework relaxes and calms me down. You probably have seen in the movies or drama serials that the female lead likes to wash the toilet or kitchen or do some wierd washing when she is upset. Actually, housework does calm me down - and I mean house-keeping (throwing unwanted stuff), a bit of cooking, a bit of re-organizing of things in the house...all these makes me feel good. I won't want to do heavy houeswork such as cleaning the toilet or mopping the whole house - lucky for me, I don't need to do them also. But, I really think a bit of light housework helps to make me feel happier. And yes, housework includes cooking...but I shall go into that (when I have inspiration) in a seperate blog.
4) Blogging/Writing - I just started to blog again last weekend. And guess what - I am a happier person already. I guess some people are happy singing Karaoke, cooking, gossping with friends, I am just happy when I put thoughts on paper - random thoughts - just like the name of my blog. I think that when I am unhappy, blogging helps to calm my thoughts. It keeps me positive because I am able to list out the feelings/thoughts I have about issues I face and counter it logically when I write.
After writing research and investment market related reports for close to a decade now, I realised that the best writers are actually those that always follow a logical thought sequence when they write. The worst ones just write without an introduction, body and conclusion. At the end of the day, the reader might be thinking "it has been a waste of time reading this, I totally don't know what you are trying to bring accross" - now that is the challenge to continuously use a disciplined approach when writing so that your readers "get the point" at the end.
5) Gathering with family and friends - I think it is important to speak to people other than your office colleagues and spouse. Limiting one's social circle to people who are important to their career does not work well in the long term. When you restrict yourself to just friends that are related to work, you tend to have a narrower view of the world. For example, when faced with a problem at work, you speak to you colleagues and when you come home you speak to your spouse. Day in, day out, everyday you might be thinking about the problem all the time. But, hey work is work. It is when you step out of that social circle and move into a different social circle that you would be able to truly get a break during the weekend. And when I say "gathering" it does not really mean a "physical gathering" - people have routines over the weekend that they have sticking with most of their lives. They won't just change the routine to accomodate you. Even texting, emailing, speaking on the phone could help to move yourself temporary out of the issues you face at work. And, of course caring about others makes you feel better as a person and improves personal well-being.
The conclusion to my blog today - cherish the weekends. Find things that you like to do, work it into a routine and do it. After all, weekends only take up 28% of the week - only slightly more than a quarter. I have friends who work during weekends for years only to find out that over these years - they have put on weight, lost contact with friends, neglected their families and became more high strung and less happy.
CC
I had a conversation with a friend lately and we both agreed that it is great to stay alone at home for a couple of hours on Saturdays to rest. I have never felt this way till recently. I am an extrovert and I love being around people. Yes, there would be days that you may see me sitting at a corner, not wanting to mix with others - but these days are rare and would only come about when I am stressed or unhappy.
Having some "time-off" during the weekends is easy for me because I don't have children and it is not compulsory for me to visit my parents over the weekend - I can take some leave to do that. But "time-off" is important, this is when you rest, gather your thoughts and try to think positive.
There are five things that I have to do over the weekend just to re-invigorate and get prepared for a full work day ahead. In 2012, I worked on Sunday nights and these past two weeks, I haven't been doing so - I am so much more relaxed. Perhaps it is time for me to take turns with a colleague so that I get to have some "off-time" on Sunday nights. We'll see.
Five things I definitely have to do during weekends:
1) Yoga - It relaxes and calms me - especially the breathing exercises. I can't do all the yoga moves well but I am very slowly improving. I have to lose a bit of the tummy or else there is a lot of resistance when I stretch to reach my feet. Now that I am heavy, I can't really do a lot of cardiovascular exercises as my knees hurt. But, once my weight is under control, I hope to start jogging or cycling again.
2) Music and Reading - This is really good for my emotional well-being. I notice that "feel good" music calms me down a lot. Songs such as "Fly me to the moon", "Lucky", "Moon River"...the acoustic versions particularly - really makes me feel happier. And I can just lounge around drinking wine and/or tea. Just 1-2 hours of this is enough to make me feel more relaxed.
3) Housework (not a lot of it, just a manageable portion) - Yes, housework relaxes and calms me down. You probably have seen in the movies or drama serials that the female lead likes to wash the toilet or kitchen or do some wierd washing when she is upset. Actually, housework does calm me down - and I mean house-keeping (throwing unwanted stuff), a bit of cooking, a bit of re-organizing of things in the house...all these makes me feel good. I won't want to do heavy houeswork such as cleaning the toilet or mopping the whole house - lucky for me, I don't need to do them also. But, I really think a bit of light housework helps to make me feel happier. And yes, housework includes cooking...but I shall go into that (when I have inspiration) in a seperate blog.
4) Blogging/Writing - I just started to blog again last weekend. And guess what - I am a happier person already. I guess some people are happy singing Karaoke, cooking, gossping with friends, I am just happy when I put thoughts on paper - random thoughts - just like the name of my blog. I think that when I am unhappy, blogging helps to calm my thoughts. It keeps me positive because I am able to list out the feelings/thoughts I have about issues I face and counter it logically when I write.
After writing research and investment market related reports for close to a decade now, I realised that the best writers are actually those that always follow a logical thought sequence when they write. The worst ones just write without an introduction, body and conclusion. At the end of the day, the reader might be thinking "it has been a waste of time reading this, I totally don't know what you are trying to bring accross" - now that is the challenge to continuously use a disciplined approach when writing so that your readers "get the point" at the end.
5) Gathering with family and friends - I think it is important to speak to people other than your office colleagues and spouse. Limiting one's social circle to people who are important to their career does not work well in the long term. When you restrict yourself to just friends that are related to work, you tend to have a narrower view of the world. For example, when faced with a problem at work, you speak to you colleagues and when you come home you speak to your spouse. Day in, day out, everyday you might be thinking about the problem all the time. But, hey work is work. It is when you step out of that social circle and move into a different social circle that you would be able to truly get a break during the weekend. And when I say "gathering" it does not really mean a "physical gathering" - people have routines over the weekend that they have sticking with most of their lives. They won't just change the routine to accomodate you. Even texting, emailing, speaking on the phone could help to move yourself temporary out of the issues you face at work. And, of course caring about others makes you feel better as a person and improves personal well-being.
The conclusion to my blog today - cherish the weekends. Find things that you like to do, work it into a routine and do it. After all, weekends only take up 28% of the week - only slightly more than a quarter. I have friends who work during weekends for years only to find out that over these years - they have put on weight, lost contact with friends, neglected their families and became more high strung and less happy.
CC
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