The weekends should be our reward, right? The blissful expectation that we will have a couple days in a row to just do our thing and have time to focus on our dreams, or just take a deep breath and sleep in.
We are for sure worthy of the gift of time to become ourselves again.
But sometimes, it’s a two-and-a-half day reminder that we’re right back where we were last weekend, and home isn’t home, it’s the place where the stress is. We can either find other places to be (when we’d really just rather be home), or isolate in a room and avoid the tension, or fling ourselves into hours and hours of raw-knuckle friction that comes with sharing space with the very forces we’re struggling against.
Um, this isn’t gonna surprise you, but accepting these living conditions are not healthy, even if we know it’s not forever. We’re telling ourselves it’s only until some other event we set up for ourselves, but the deadlines get pushed back again and again. The ups and downs of suffering is not good for our health.
We have to stay healthy.
Find our joyfulness.
I don’t need to freak you out and add anxiety by listing the effects of chronic stress…we already know. I want us to guard our hearts and souls against them.
For me, this weekend has been a roller coaster of feeling grateful to have an hour of breathing room to feeling let down since I haven’t changed my situation.
Reality Check. I have changed, and I’m working on my goals.
You there, same thing. You’re changing. You’re thinking, you’re planning and you’re reading this, so that’s the bare minimum we need.
Slightly above this bare minimum, is our health. We need to keep our hearts pumping, our bodies and minds healthy if we want to stay well and live long enough to enjoy the first time we can say we bought a house, or paid off our debt, or actually closed the door on a bad relationship.
How?
Well firstly, of course, I’m going to say yes, get away from the person or thing that causes your chest to explode. Get outside for a walk. Get some air, some sunshine, move those legs so you can get all your gears moving.
Take your phone.
Yes, you heard me. Take some closeup photos of some flowers, or the treetops, whatever. Leave yourself a voice memo, telling yourself that you are ok! Look back on them throughout the weekend.
Tell yourself what steps you are taking next. Is it the phone calls to sort out a new start? Is it a class you have to sign up for, or more ideas to remember for the business plan you’re creating?
Spend time with your people who make you happy, and take them out. Your kids, your sister or your brother, or a friend. Get out and talk with people who are moving forward, borrow some of their positivity and it will grow in you.
So, maybe our motivation gets lost during the weekend, and it defies all of our beliefs, because the weekends are supposed to be our free time – our period of motivation to map our steps, be creative, actually implement plans, make the calls, do the projects.
We’re still in the game, and we’re moving forward. Keep going.
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The Slow Sojourn 