Several years ago Life Magazine conducted the Great American Weekend Study, and discovered that 47% of people wait until Thursday night or later to plan their weekends. I don’t even need to tell you what happens when we wait too long to plan — the weekend slips through our fingers and before we know it, it’s Sunday night, and we didn’t do anything fun or refreshing.
In these times of stress, it’s more essential than ever to stay in balance and plan ahead to fill your downtime off with activities that renew perspective, optimism, and joy. The key is build around a framework for deciding what to do. Think PEP…
Physical Activity
Taking care of our bodies through a combination of sleep, exercise, a healthy diet, and regular medical check-ups provides the physical well of energy we draw upon to accomplish everything we need to do. Weekends are a great time to test a new fitness activity, like bike riding, dance class or a park workout group.
What do you do to ensure you get enough rest, make your way to the gym, eat well, go to the doctor’s?
Escapes
Hobbies and activities that instantly transport us to a place of joy provide one of the most efficient ways to recharge our batteries. Activities as simple and easy as reading, playing Frisbee with your dog, or sauntering through a museum can get you quickly out of your head and into another world.
What activities do you find to be essential to your spirit?
People
Keeping our relationships strong grounds us, enforces our identities and brings out our best selves. Scheduling in-person hang-outs with the people who know and love you ensures that your weekend gives you energy tackle your greatest weekday challenges.
What are the ways you stay connected to the people who strengthen you outside of Facebook, twitter, and the internet?
Pep is exactly what you’ll get if you build a mixture of each of these into your weekends.
These are three essential components to your personal life, and each needs to be regularly nurtured in order to give yourself maximum energy.