I did something this weekend that, to be honest, I'm not sure I could afford to do:
I took the entire weekend off.
Now, lest you get the wrong idea, I have a ton of work that I could be doing. But, by some strange act of the universe, none of it is due immediately. And I spent basically all of Friday afternoon staring into space instead of working because my poor brain was just too fried to think anymore. And my calendar this week and next is frighteningly full, including (a) a weekend workshop, (b) a business trip, and (c) multiple late evenings at school for various functions, several of which will cause me to miss Baby Jane's bedtime (which is something I try to avoid as much as possible----missing her bedtime, I mean).
So, on Friday afternoon (as I was staring into space and hoping that perhaps the journal article I was ostensibly working on would start to write itself), I made the executive decision to do no work this weekend. (Well, except for checking email---I have an assignment out that's due early in the week, and I thought it would be decent if I checked in once or twice to make sure no one was panicking.)
Instead of working, I finished up some tax paperwork that's been sitting on my home office desk for over a month. I cleaned out a closet. I finger-painted with Baby Jane. I cooked chili and baked cornbread. I went out w/ Mr. Jane. I took a nap! I ran errands. I played silly toddler games for hours. I played computer games. I thought, "this must be how normal people with normal jobs spend their weekends!"
But most importantly, I got my sanity back. Which, given the week ahead, is really, really important.
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You are totally screwed. There was something really important, you just forgot what it is. You'll be blogging about it tomorrow after you find out....
(If not, then good for you!)
Sanity is the most important. With your renewed energy, I hope your week goes well!
Don't regret it. Regular people do take weekends off, regularly. :) It will give you extra energy for the next two weeks. Good for you!
you may well find that you get some of that "lost" time back b/c the relaxation has made you more efficient ...
Yeah, I'm hoping for that extra energy.
(and Greg, that was my secret fear all weekend!)
Of course as I was writing the post, I kept thinking how ludicrous it is that I am in a profession where it's *weird* to *not* work on the weekends---I mean, how screwed up is that??!
I had a similar experience, in that I read something completely nonacademic all weekend long. It was wonderful. It does feel strange that it is what a lot of normal non-academic types do--not work on weekends. I may try to do that one whole weekend a month from now on. I think I would be a happier person.
So, be happy and proud of yourself!