This weekend, I remembered what it is like to relax over a weekend. Most of the time, I see weekends as a time to catch up on everything that I didn’t get done over the previous week. I had not fully realized what a perfectly terrible home-brew recipe for exhaustion and frustration that has been. Until now.

Quite by accident, I ended up doing mostly nothing this weekend. And I liked it.

A busy, no-lunch kinda day on Friday, a high school football game, and a late dinner of only soup out at a pub where they have some of my favorite micro-brews made for a bit of a headache on Saturday morning. Yep, I admit it. Nothing terrible, but enough that my sweet beau suggested we skip our plans for tennis and snuggle in for a Sopranos marathon. This was just what I have been needing. Nothingness. It felt decadent. And fun. And restful. I think I almost forgot what decadent and fun and restful felt like.

Not so long ago, everyone knew that weekends were supposed to be time to refuel and “re-create” our energy after working hard all week. When did weekends become such a drain?

I always imagine that I will feel better if I can get a little bit of work done. Or another load of laundry. Or clean out the basement. But it is an illusion. I never feel so much better that I can then relax. There is always more work to do.

I think a new Weekend Policy is called for here – a declaration that weekends must include plenty of nothingness. Like napping. And watching movies. And hanging out. I will still have to get the kids to games and activities, but maybe I can really focus on not checking email, not catching up on work, and making sure I do something that is really restorative with my family. Something that sets the weekends apart from the weekdays.

If I want to slow the pace of our lives down, I can start with making weekends more restful. I guess it is pathetic that I have to make a new Weekend Policy to relax, but that is just the way I am. I don’t sit still a lot. I want to get things done. I worry about how I can fit everything in because I am very aware that we only have a finite amount of time, today, tomorrow, and in our lives. Relaxing just doesn’t come naturally to me. I need a plan.

From now on, I am going to try to see that fitting nothingness into our weekends is a priority too. I want to remember that nothingness is actually something that will get me where I want to go – to a state of rejuvenation which will make me and my family better able to dive into everything that has to get done during the coming week.

Next weekend, we have a garage sale planned, baseball tryouts, a lacrosse clinic, a football game, AND a neighborhood block party. This is not exactly an optimal debut for my new Weekend Policy, but I have to start somewhere. Having intentions is the only way to get going toward what I really want. After all, the destination, as well as the journey, is going to be plenty perfect.

Are your weekends jam-packed or restful?