Chronic Rants

I don’t have a job, but I work damn hard. Every day is long and full. Some days I go to medical appointments; some days I see friends, though not as often as I would like; some days I stay home and work on a long list of tasks. None of those are relaxing. Even when we don’t work traditional jobs, we need days off. As I sat down to write today, this felt familiar, so I did a quick search on this site and found that I’ve written about this before. In fact, I’ve written about this several times, and the past two were last December and the December before that. Hmm. That might be telling me something.

I have been making more of an effort to give myself space for relaxing time. In August, during a couple of abnormally not-incredibly-hot weeks, I took several afternoons to sit outside and read a book or work on some writing. It was lovely. But a full day? That was rare.

This week we got a snowstorm. In the Boston area this isn’t odd, but it doesn’t usually come so early. I saw the forecast, looked at my calendar, and decided that I needed to take advantage of the strange weather. I was exhausted. I needed a break! And I had a big week coming up, too.

So I took a day off. I didn’t feel too sick to do things; I simply didn’t do them. I puttered around the house. I did some laundry, but now that I have laundry in my apartment (such luxury!) that’s not much of a chore for me. I chatted with a friend via video for a couple of hours. I spent at least a couple of hours reading a novel. I baked cookies. I watched the beautiful snow falling outside, clinging to trees and coating cars. My plan had been to spend a few hours watching tv while crocheting in the afternoon, but somehow I never found time for that. I still did it after dinner, though, like I do almost every night.

Several times during the day, I felt at a loss. I was supposed to be doing something, right? What was I supposed to be doing? What was it? I kept looking at my “to do” list for the day, which is always on my desk. But this time, it was mostly empty, just containing reminders to clear snow off my car, read a book, relax.

I somehow filled the day, and felt so good by the end of it. I needed that. The next day came part 2 of the storm and I wanted to take another day off, but I had too much to do. Still, it was a reminder that I need this. We all do. We need days when we aren’t trying to get lots done. I may not do a lot in a typical day by most people’s standards, but for me it’s a lot. It’s now 3pm and I have made several phone calls, gone to physical therapy, gone to the bank, answered some emails, eaten lunch. For me, that’s a lot, but it’s more than that: it’s the obligation. What I need is days without those obligations. Days of freedom, where I can do whatever I want, whenever I feel like doing it. Again, I think that we all need that sometimes.

Not to sound like a broken record (do people still even know what that means?) but I’m going to make an effort to take more days off. So far, I have succeeded in giving myself afternoons without obligation. Now it is time to give myself more full days without obligation. These will be days for myself, with no appointments, no plans, no lists of tasks to be completed. It can all wait. One more day won’t cause problems. It’s time. So from now on, I will aim for one day off every month. Wish me luck!

Do you take days off like this? Do you find it difficult to schedule them in, or easy to do? Please comment and share your experience with days off while disabled.