This week has really put a lot of things into perspective for me as my company gave us the week off to relax & recharge. For once, I was completely offline (heck, I still am). Sometimes a proper day off of work can seem unreal. With constant slack notifications and bottomless to-do lists, it seems like we’re always working. Especially since we are all working remotely. The weekend rolls around and as much as we want to have fun and let loose, there’s something at the back of our minds telling us you need to get ahead, do that extra project, open that laptop up. But to fully recharge for the upcoming week and unwind from the previous, you need to delete all of your worries so you can solely take care of yourself, because honestly, you should be your top priority.
So…relaxing? Sounds easy enough right? While it may feel inevitable that your crazy to-do list is never going to end, it’s time to take charge of your days off to feel 100% when Monday rolls back around. Here are some tips on how to unplug and relax that I swear by:
1. Set Your Email/Slack to Offline
Don’t start your day by going straight to your work notifications. Start with a peaceful frame of mind. If someone needs to reach you badly enough, they can call. I know that some jobs can be very demanding and your first instinct every morning is ‘what if the company burns down if I don’t get xyz done?’ But trust me, it’ll be okay. Send out a message to your team the night before saying you’ll be offline for some much needed ‘me time’. I’m sure they’ll appreciate this message and will end up taking time offline themselves.
2. Surround Yourself with Nature
Take a drive far away from busy city life and enjoy nature with your loved ones, like going to the beach or taking a hike at a national park. Try and really take in your surroundings, pay attention to the movement of your legs, the sights, smells and sounds around you. It’s a surreal experience. Worried about covid and crowded areas? If your work permits you to, take the day off and do this during the day. San Diego was absolutely dead when I went since everyone else was on the New Year work grind. I got to enjoy the views covid stress-free.
3. Do Things That Will Nurture Your Soul
During your time off, it’s vital you do something for yourself while you take time off to recharge your mind and soul. I recently signed up for Masterclass through work and decided to take up a non-work related class (cooking with Gordon Ramsey got me hooked). Read a book. Learn something new. Journal. Focus on doing things that feed your soul, make you feel alive, whatever that is for you.
4. Rekindle Relationships
Your time off should be about what makes you happy, and for me, that’s my best friends. Spending quality time with select individuals this week has truly made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There’s something so wholesome about playing board games, ordering dank food, talking for hours nonstop, making TikToks, watching movies and just lounging around together that reminds you to appreciate the little moments in life.
5. Don’t Be Productive For Once
If you asked me a couple months ago, I would have said that on your time off, you should be the most productive you’ve ever been. Catch up on all your projects, get ahead, set yourself up for success when you’re back online. I take that all back. I took the week off from writing content, working on my podcast, and working on my side projects. This week was for me. Doing absolutely nothing. And I’ve loved every minute. I’ve found that passion and fire inside me again for things that I lost interest in since I was so burnt out.
Again, this isn’t an every week type of cadence but when you do choose to take that time off properly and invest in your mental health, ditch the productivity.
6. Sleep Early
I FEEL SO REJUVENATED. The best thing you can do for your health is give yourself 8+ hours of sleep during your time off. Sometimes this looks like sleeping late and waking up late the next day and sometimes this looks like sleeping early, waking up early and then napping during the day. Whatever it is, get that sleep. Turn off electronics. Set zero alarms. Let your eyes open naturally.
