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Making Days Off Feel Restful

For anyone whose weekends or days off vanish into errands, catch-up work and screens. Each day is one small way to slow down, leave work behind and make your time off feel like time that is yours.

Rest · Self-Care · Burnout · Habits · one to-do a day · you choose how many days

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The first seven days

  • Day 1Turn off the alarm tonight before your day off, and let yourself wake when your body is ready.
  • Day 2Before your last shift of the week, write tomorrow's work to-do list so your mind can set it down until you return.
  • Day 3Lie down for a twenty minute nap on your day off, with a blanket and the curtains half drawn, and let yourself wake slowly.
  • Day 4Text a friend to meet for a late brunch on your day off, and tell them there is no need to rush off after.
  • Day 5Block off one stretch of your next day off with no plan at all, and protect it the way you would a meeting.
  • Day 6Set your alarm an hour later than usual for your next free day, if you can't skip it entirely.
  • Day 7Sign out of your work email on your phone for the weekend, and notice how the screen feels lighter.

Further into the year

The to-dos keep changing as the year goes on. A few from later in this theme:

  • Day 30Notice the next time you think "I should be getting something done" on your free day, and rest for ten minutes instead.
  • Day 60Fold laundry by a sunny window this spring, and take your time smoothing each piece.
  • Day 120Pause when you catch yourself reorganizing a drawer on your day off, and ask whether it can wait.
  • Day 240Stand at the sink and feel the warm water while you wash a few dishes, with no hurry.
  • Day 365Save one pleasant thing from this weekend in a note on your phone, so you remember to do it again.

How a challenge works

A Theraglee challenge is a theme with one small to-do for every day of a year. You choose how long yours runs, anywhere from a week to the full year, and each day you get the next to-do: something that takes a few minutes and fits inside an ordinary day. Tick it off when it is done. Nothing is scored and nothing is lost if you miss a day; the next to-do is simply waiting when you come back.

Challenges come with a free Theraglee account, which never asks for a card. Your progress stays private to you.

Challenges like this one

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Reading that goes with it

Doing a Dull Job Without Rushing It The dishes, the laundry, the same drive again. Why hurrying through them costs more than it saves, how to do one of them with nothing playing, and… Making a Decision When You Are Exhausted Half past nine at night and somebody wants an answer. What tiredness does to deciding, how to spot that you are in it, and the one rule about the end… When Nothing Structures Your Day Nobody expects you anywhere and the day keeps disappearing. Why structure is not the same as discipline, the three anchors that hold up a day, and…
Educational only — not medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Find a licensed therapist if you want support.