How To Make The Most Of Your Day Off
Ever really REALLY looked forward to a day off, just to spend most of it feeling guilty, not knowing what to do with yourself, or getting sucked into stuff you just don’t… wanna… do? This time of year, life gets a bit crazy. There are the social engagements, end of year work events, holiday planning and pre-break job cramming to tend to, not to mention all that last-minute workout time you “need” to squeeze in to make sure you’re ready to strip down for a summer break spent by the sea! When you finally DO get a day off all to yourself, it can be so hard to wind down and get out of , “go go GO!” mode.This week, BUF’s favourite Naturopath, Cassie Mendoza-Jones from Elevate Vitality, launched a brand new project, which we are in LOVE with! It’s called the Body Harmony Society and is all about helping women feel comfortable in their own skins, aligned with their own personal energies and helping us all accept that, “you’re enough, you’re worthy”.But what does that have to do with making the most of your day off? Well, we were taking a look through the Body Harmony Society blog and this one really resonated… read on BUF girls and get ready to really enjoy those glorious, sun-drenched weekends!Make sure you check out Cass’ new site too, there are so many more golden nuggets in there… you’ll feel better just reading it! Over to Cass…
Does the idea of taking time off and not feeling guilty for it seem crazy to you right now?Does the idea of taking time off and actually not doing any work seem out-of-this-world impossible?I used to think those things too… until I realised I had to stop thinking like that, and change how I look after myself.Here are 4 super simple tips to help you make the most of your day off …
First up, turn your email auto-reply ON!
Give yourself some space.I absolutely love having an auto-reply on… and I keep my running most of the year (even when I’m not on holiday!)I was inspired by Alexandra Franzen to tweak my autoreply so I felt good about sending it, and I knew the receiver would feel heard.When someone receives an auto-reply from you that’s sent with love, they know you’ve received their email, and that you’ll get back to them as soon as you can.It takes the pressure of you to have to respond ASAP (or… yesterday!) and gives you more space to breathe.JOY.
Do all the annoying stuff the day before
Get it out of the way, so you can enjoy some space.Clear your emails the night before.Do the laundry.Clean the kitchen.Don’t allow yourself to do any annoying tasks on your day off. Even it means that you do all this stuff on Saturday… how nice would it be to have a FULL Sunday that’s just… yours?
Give yourself permission to enjoy slowing down and relaxing
If you don’t do this, your day off will just feel stressful, and you’ll feel guilty for not enjoying it (which is sooo not the point of having a day off).
Be flexible
There’s no point making firm plans and scheduling a million things into your day off if it doesn’t actually feel relaxing.You know the days – where you try to cram in a million things but you don’t actually feel like doing any of them.You thought you’d go sit in a café with a new book, but you actually decide to stay home at the last minute.You thought you’d go lie on the beach, but the wind is a bit too, erm windy.Allow yourself change your mind about what relaxing looks like – and go with the flow, without feeling guilty.You don’t need to get stuff done.You don’t need to do anything you think you “should” do.You don’t need to second-guess yourself about how you wish to spend your time.What DO you need to do on your day off?The only requisite is that you enjoy it.