You resolve to have a relaxing weekend (funday Friday am I right??) with no work, no social media, and making good memories with your loved ones.
But as soon as the sun hits your face on Saturday morning, you’re up posting promos on twitter, scrolling facebook, and checking emails.
Well that didn’t quite go to plan.
We spend so much of our lives putting ourselves under pressure, whether it be work, education, or other commitments, that we literally need some time off to decompress. If we don’t, we run the risk of burning out.
Keep reading to find out why your weekends should be for self care, and not for stress.
You deserve a relaxing weekend
First thing’s first. You deserve this time off.
There is so much going on in the world around us, and within our own worlds, that as humans we can easily become overwhelmed. Many of us take this pressure for granted and often don’t know the value of decompression.
We put ourselves under so much stress and strain during the week, that we owe it to our mental health and wellbeing to take a step back and have a relaxing weekend.
If we’re not careful, business could become our default, and we eventually become unable to switch off. Leading to even more issues.
Of course it’s difficult to switch off, that’s the hard part. It’s especially difficult if you’re trying to build something that requires all of your effort. But you cannot perform at 110% if you’re burned out. Take the time out, give yourself some space, then you can come back hard as nails Monday morning and smash it all over again.
Once you’ve convinced yourself that you are allowed to take some time off, you will start to form the habit of relaxing on weekends (or if you work weekends, whatever day/s you’ve allocated for self care). You will naturally become less stressed and strained because you know that your relaxing weekend is coming and you’ll be able to turn everything off.
If you’re wondering how exactly to go about this whole weekend relaxation thing, start with some feel good things that make you feel 1000% better. For us its baking, bathing and having our feet up (PRO TIP: these tips are not just for low mental health days!).We need to relax more than just once a year. 
Many people use their summer holidays and vacations as an excuse to relax.
Often, you’ll hear people say (or say yourself) that they need a holiday, that they need the time off, that they’ve been waiting all year for the chance to relax.
But is this healthy?
Many of us build up our stress and strain all throughout the year until that moment that seems designed to help us let off some steam. We wait and wait and wait for the time to come around, we relax intensively for a week, then come home and wait for the post-travel blues to dissipate.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that holidays are bad, oh no no no. I love me a good trip.
I’m saying that they shouldn’t be our only excuse out of the year to relax. We shouldn’t have to wait for that opportunity. We shouldn’t have to carry our stress and strain around for months on end until the moment we can let it go.
We need to allow ourselves time to relax much more regularly than that, to avoid the buildup of stress. We also deserve to take the pressure off our holidays. If they’re the only time we get to relax, doesn’t that make us stress to make it perfect??
But we don’t need to do that. We can take charge and allocate that time for ourselves, on a regular basis, when we deserve it. Not just when we need it. This is what a relaxing weekend is for.Weekends are for being lazy
Weekends are for a lot of things. Parties, shopping, barbecues, day trips.
But they’re not for work.
The world understands that weekends are very distinct from weekdays. Most people don’t work weekends (and if you do, my heart goes out to you, make sure you find another day for self care my love), and use them to hang out with friends or practise various hobbies.
The best thing you can do is make sure that your relaxing weekends are for you. Ensure that you are doing things that make you happy and fulfil you. Find a rhythm that works for you.
I like to have a more productive self care day on Saturdays, having a massage, chilling with my friends or my mum, and then take Sundays just for myself, with absolutely no work. I paint, I move my body, I wear comfy clothing, put on some incense, have a bath, and eat crappy fulfilling food. It’s all about balance, people.
The rest of the world slows down anyway
Weekends are the natural end to the week. Regardless of the various reasons for weekends existing, they indicate a break. And we could all use a break every now and then.
In the professional world (and particularly in education), weekends usually mean lights out. Especially Sundays. You’re unlikely to get a reply to your email, most shops close early, and we ALL know there’s no post on Sundays.
This is a good excuse to follow suit and take time for a relaxing weekend. People know that they’re unlikely to get a response on the weekend, so take that chance and ignore your emails for a couple of days. No one will think you’re being rude. They just know the protocol.
So what better excuse than the whole world going to sleep for a day or two for you to catch up on your self care?