The weekend never feels long enough.Whether it’s a regular two-day weekend or an extended (but somehow still short) three-day weekend, leisure time passes much faster than the workday.
While there’s no magic way to truly extend every weekend, there are some ways to take advantage of your time off work to make your weekends feel more fulfilling.
Weekends are more important than you think.
After a long work week, people need physical time and space to relax and recharge.
Any downtime, whether it’s a holiday, a weekend, or even an evening after get off work, is important for recovery.
“Recovery” is a term used by organizational psychologists to express the concept of replenishing resources depleted by work effort—much like an athlete needs a few days of recovery and rest after a hard workout.
Here, experts share how to optimize those recovery days and make the most of your downtime:
Plan out some of your time.
You can make the most of your weekends by planning to do activities you enjoy.
Creating a specific schedule for your weekend can help you accomplish the activities you want to do. That way, you won’t be disappointed with the activities you did (or didn’t do) on Sunday night.
Think about it: You’re more likely to go on a long bike ride if you rent a bike in advance or coordinate the ride with a friend. While planning things may not make your weekend longer, setting things to do (that you look forward to) can make you feel like you’ve maximized your time.
And, there’s another benefit to planning ahead: Making fun plans ahead of time also gives you something to look forward to during a busy work week.
Curb your screen use and find a hobby.
When you sit down to watch an hour-long show or scroll through Instagram, it often feels like time flies by. Research shows that people who spend a lot of time on social media develop a distorted sense of time, often wondering how time flies by so quickly.
Of course, it’s okay to use social media or watch TV on the weekends, but you should try to limit it. Taking a break from watching TV or scrolling through social media is a great way to reconnect with the things that made you happy on your day off.
Do activities that are different from your day-to-day work.
Engage in activities with resources that are completely different from your job.In other words, if your 9-to-5 job is highly technical, spend your weekends doing a different skill-based activity, which might mean playing an instrument or trying your hand at kickball.
On the other hand, if you work in the arts industry, you may want to take your days off from activities like writing or creating and try something completely different. That way, you won’t have to think about work when you want to enjoy your weekend.
Put work away.
Make work a work day thing rather than a break time thing.
It’s important to put some distance between you and work on the weekends. Worrying about work takes away valuable time spent with friends or family on the weekends. Leave work behind and make your weekends feel longer.
This might mean turning off your work phone, disabling your work email, or even putting your work laptop away so you’re not reminded of an upcoming deadline while curled up on the couch.
Find a balance between going out and resting.
Rest is important, but staying on the couch or in bed all weekend isn’t as helpful. Time flies really fast if you spend too much time resting throughout the weekend – when was the last time you laid down for a nap and woke up two hours later?
When you combine much-needed rest with activities that you find fun or exciting, you’ll feel like you’re at your peak. Specifically, engaging in mastery activities, where you learn something new, will help you gain more energy.
What’s more, if you find these activities enriching, you’ll go to work on Monday with such energy and a better mood because you had a great weekend experience.
Stay in the moment.
It’s easier said than done, but if you focus on the present during your precious days off, you’ll have a more enjoyable weekend. In fact, research shows that some people who consistently practice mindfulness and meditation experience time more slowly.
You can use your senses to ground yourself anytime, anywhere.To do this, start by naming five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste.
Once you return to the present moment, you can consciously continue doing the things that bring you joy. Who doesn’t want to experience a feeling of joy on a slow weekend?
