You know, before work and everything starts again… sometimes I feel like I’m obsessed with min-maxing my weekend because of the limited time I have. So I usually feel quite guilty if I end up slacking too much. And I tend to be quite aware of how much time I have left. Anyone else that has this issue?
I used to look forward to weekends and would often postpone personal projects to the weekends where I would have the time to do them.
It’s a lie. I don’t have time in the weekends. There’s always something else in the way, because everyone else also want to connect in weekends. It only causes frustration from not being able to do whatever I actually want.
It’s also bullshit that I have to postpone private stuff for weekends. I want to live my life 7 out of 7 days. Not 2 and then work 5. I’m not happy with giving 70% of my life away, and hoping to catch up in the remaining 30%.
It might seem somewhat egoistic, but if you want time for yourself, you will have to prioritize time for yourself. That includes giving lower priority and more often saying no to work, friends and family. If you try to please everyone, then your time will be consumed by everyone. You have to put yourself first and align other people’s expectations.
However, it’s not really egoistic. It’s better to be fully present when you’re doing stuff with others, than to sit at their place wishing you were home. That includes work.
Also, I’m now focusing on carving out time in weekdays for the things I want to do. No more overtime work, no more procrastenation and relaxing just to prepare for the next day. Sure, I will work the agreed hours to make money, but I am going to take ownership of the rest of the day. That’s somewhat easier in the summer where I have more energy and the weather is better. In the winter I am almost hibernating but then I also lower my expectations for what I can do.
So in short, it’s necessary to plan your time and it’s necessary to align expectations from others but also your own.