The Value of Decompressing

Today is my day off. Here at camp, we work on Sundays, so we usually have our day off on a Monday or Tuesday. As a solopreneur, it is easy for me to get lost in my work. I make my own schedule, and I often work evenings, early mornings, weekends, rarely taking time off to just chill. I find this to be a common phenomenon among my clients. Fun and recreation are just not an important enough part of our lives.

While Saturday and Sunday are the typical days off here in America, having a Tuesday off makes me much more aware of how I choose to spend my time. Today, I am planning an hour and a half trip to Northern Maine to visit a friend from Connecticut who recently moved to Maine. My friend Bertha is my mom's age, and I just love having her in my life. She is bright, loving, compassionate, and balanced. She was an active and lively member of my book club.

At home, I rarely planned my days off. I just wanted to decompress a bit, spend time with my family and friends. Planning my days off here has taught me to really value my time even more than I usually do. This time is a gift, and I plan to make good use of every moment. I look forward to seeing Bertha's warm and loving family at her lake house, and I will see get a chance to visit her new condo. Maybe we'll have coffee at the local Starbucks, go for a walk around the lake, take out a kayak, eat a delicious salmon dinner together. Whatever we do, I know it will be a wonderful day.

I plan to bring home the energy of today's outing and use it to fuel my week. Are you making the time to decompress? How often do you take time off, and how do you spend your leisure time?